SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) announced that as of Feb. 2, 2022, OHCS and local program administrators (LPAs) have paid $268.1 in federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) to 38,078 households, up from $256.3 million and 36,632 applicants last week, through the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OERAP). OHCS has paid out 93% of all federal ERA dollars available for rental assistance.
OERAP continues to be one of the nation’s top-performing programs and is ranked fifth in the nation, in the percentage of federal ERA funds paid out and obligated, as tracked by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
Denial notifications
OHCS is currently accepting applications following our portal reopening on Jan. 26, 2022. To serve the most households, tenants who apply on or after Jan. 26 who already received assistance through OERAP are not eligible to receive additional assistance. New applications will start getting reviewed for payment after the three-to-five-week period for accepting new applications is over. Upon review, applications will be approved for payment or denied, this decision will be made based upon the highest need, not on a first come first served basis. The agency will notify tenants who do not meet the basic eligibility criteria, such as income, with a written denial. Tenants who are determined not eligible will be responsible for paying rent owed and will not have safe harbor protections once a denial notice is issued. Landlords will also be notified of the approval or denial of an application.
Progress and updated numbers
OHCS and its processing partner, Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), have made significant strides in the past several weeks to speed up application processing. Currently, 265 PPL staff are focusing on processing applications. In the past week alone, PPL paid 1,276 applications. This is in addition to the applications processed by LPAs working across the state to finish paying out ERA 1 funds.
To date, OHCS and LPAs:
- Paid $268,134,584 to landlords and tenants to help 38,078 Oregon households, which is 93% of ERA 1 and 2 funds.
- Are currently reviewing 5,177 applications for payment that were submitted prior to Dec. 1, 2021.
- Need applicant or landlord response for 4,273 applications that were submitted prior to Dec. 1, 2021.
- Received 4,635 applications since the portal reopened on Jan. 26, 2022. OHCS is focusing on paying out eligible applications that were received before Dec. 1, 2021, and will pay out the new applications after the three-to-five-week for accepting new applications is over.
Tenants can apply for OERAP at oregonrentalassistance.org. Visit the OERAP dashboard for more data.