Posted on April 1, 2020
At MHP, we have heard an outpouring of concern for our low-income renters during this time of great uncertainty. People in municipalities across the state want to help people impacted by COVID-19.
Last week, in conjunction with the Community Preservation Coalition, we released our initial suggestions for using CPA, and other municipal resources, for emergency rental assistance. As the calls and emails expressing interest continued to come in, we further developed these suggestions.
Today, we are releasing comprehensive Emergency Rental Assistance Program guidance to help your community or organization think through the different facets of a rental assistance program and ask important questions to determine if this type of initiative is right for your community. And don’t think you need to do this alone. Many of our regional agencies may be able to run rental assistance programs for a handful of municipalities.
Additionally, we developed a shorter Emergency Rental Assistance Program checklist because this may provide an easier starting point to discuss your community’s immediate rental assistance needs.
MHP’s Senior Program Manager, Shelly Goehring, is available to further help you and your community with your questions about rental assistance programs. Based on interest, Goehring is open to scheduling a virtual workshop to walk communities through the basics and answer questions about setting up an effective emergency rental assistance program. To reach her, call 857-317-8525 or email sgoehring@mhp.net.
This effort is in keeping with MHP’s community assistance mission of helping communities create affordable housing. Since 1986, MHP’s community assistance has provided support and technical assistance to over 335 communities. MHP's community assistance team will be providing periodic updates on policies and programs developed to respond to COVID-19. To follow this work, go to www.mhp.net/news and follow us on twitter at @mhphousing.