Why are so few applying for rental assistance?

[Nathan Gesner]

Wyoming opened their Emergency Rental Assistance Program two weeks ago. As of today, they've only received 2,500 applications, totaling $5 million in rent and utility assistance. The program has $160 million available. I just read that Long Island has only spent 5% of their assistance funds. Cook County, Illinois has one of the highest application rates I could find, using about 20% of the available funds.

Why aren't more people applying? Could it be they stopped paying rent without justification and won't qualify for assistance? Or were the number of non-paying tenants simply exaggerated so states could get their hands on more money?

Personally, I have eight tenants that applied for assistance out of 400 rentals. Of those eight, seven are behind on less than one month of rent, mostly due to unpaid utilities or late fees. Only one tenant is behind on several months of rent. He stopped making payments two months ago when he learned rental assistance would be coming available, even though he found a new job and has been employed for the last two months. We're waiting to see what assistance he receives, then we will demand he catch up in 30 days or face eviction.

I have one more tenant (my worst case) that has not paid rent in six months. She has not completed the application for rental assistance. We've given her everything she needs, multiple times, but she claimed she didn't have an email (she's 45 and has an active facebook page), then she claimed she didn't have a computer (free at the local library) and that she couldn't figure out the forms (several organizations are specifically set up to help her and we've offered to help her in the office). She never answers our calls or knocks on her door, but she does eventually call us back after hours and leaves messages complaining about how she needs help. She has been unemployed for over a year and has two functional vehicles, yet she can't find time to come to the office or call us during work hours. This has been going on for almost two months in hopes we could get assistance and catch her up. I finally gave up this week and filed a 3-day Notice. We will file for eviction on Tuesday.