More rental help is coming for Clark County residents

Clark County announced Tuesday that it will accept a new round of applications next week for up to 800 households seeking to join the wait list to receive rent assistance — including help with back-owed rent — through the Treasury Rental Assistance programs.

The county currently operates rent-assistance and eviction-protection programs using federal and state funding, administered by the Council for the Homeless and other groups. The assistance is aimed at low-income residents who have suffered financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualification is determined based on household size, income and risk of experiencing homelessness.

More information, including application links for landlords and tenants in English and Spanish, can be found at the Council for the Homeless website at councilforthehomeless.org, although the application portal links listed on the site will not go live until Aug. 23.

Applicants without internet access can seek a referral by phone at 360-695-9677 or in person at the Share Fromhold Center at 2306 N.E. Andresen Road, according to a press release from the county.

The programs have collectively provided $21.4 million in financial assistance in the past year and serve more than 100 new households per week, providing an average of more than $800,000 per week in total assistance, according to program manager Michael Torres.

“The number of households served and the amount of assistance that has gone out has been really incredible,” he said.

Households receive support as a single payment rather than on an ongoing basis.

The county periodically opens new rounds of application slots for the wait list based on how many households it expects to be able to serve with the available funding, Torres said.

Demand remains incredibly strong, he said: In the previous application round, in July, all 800 assistance slots were filled within two hours after they became available.

The county is working with rental-assistance providers to open additional assistance slots, and plans to open three more rounds of new slots starting 9 a.m. Sept. 13, noon Sept. 27 and 9 a.m. Oct. 18. More information about those rounds will be released closer to the dates.