California State Rental Assistance Program

[Jason Mak]

Hello BP

Wanted to see if anyone has filed for State Rental Assistance (via Housingiskey.com).  My experience has been so far that the website and application is rather intuitive and easy to navigate but once you hit the "submit" button, the confusion and frustration begins.  

For one - the application is emailed to the tenant who has to complete the tenant application and from what I gather is rather cumbersome to the point of discouraging them from completing their end.  There are also qualifier questions which some tenants are scared to answer because they might reveal that they've been receiving aid and not paying rent.  

There is no section on the form for landlords to enter owed utilities.  Only a "fees box" and since we are not allowed to be charging late fees, this is rather confusing and makes me uncomfortable putting anything there in the fear of disqualifying the application.

Lastly, related to my first point, it still puts the control in the tenants hand whether the landlord receives any funds or not.  If the tenants don't cooperate, than landlords are screwed - unfortunately there are bad actors out there who are doing this.  I have tenants who are clearly employed during this time and simply gaming the system.

Wanted to hear other's thoughts

[Alexandra West]

The program is a disaster. I pulled eviction proceedings off the table and settled in exchange for the tenant, who refused to vacate after her lease ended June of 2020, to apply for the funds.  The tenant held up her end of the bargain - put in the application. She then vacated the property. BUT the program staff (both Sacramento Emergency Rental Assistance staff as well as Housing is Key staff) are telling me that "since the tenant moved out and is NO LONGER a current resident you won't get any funding".  Wait... WHAT?!?!?! ((head explodes)).  100% insane and infuriating, especially considering none of their FAQs or applications or anything say anything about this, just says "tenant must be a current resident".  They apparently meant to say "current resident at the time of assistance funding distribution, despite the fact that any reasonable person would read it as "current resident at the time of application" since no one knows or can say when the funds will even be distributed.  Do they expect landlords to tell the tenants they can't move out if they applied for the assistance until the funds are distributed?