Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) and Local Program Administrators (LPAs) continue to make strong progress on processing applications for the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OERAP). OHCS and LPAs have paid $141.3 million in federal emergency rental assistance to 20,962 applicants, up from $130.6 million and 19,613 applicants last week. The agency is ranked 7th in the nation in the percentage of funds paid and obligated. OHCS announced last week a pause in accepting new applications for the OERAP program for six weeks, starting on Dec. 1, at 11:59 p.m. Anyone who has fallen behind on rent or may get behind on December rent is encouraged to apply for emergency rental assistance right away, but before Dec. 1 at 11:59 p.m. at oregonrentalassistance.org.
Progress and Updated Numbers
Through its three-point plan, OHCS and its processing partner, Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), have made significant strides to drive rapid application processing in the past several weeks. Currently, 105 PPL staff are processing applications on behalf of counties with applications outside the 60-/90-day safe harbor period. In the past week, PPL processed close to 700 applications, exceeding their 500-application target. PPL is currently onboarding and training an additional 45 staff who will begin processing next week.
To date, OHCS and LPAs have:
Paid $141,384,835 to landlords and tenants to help - over $20 million in the past two weeks alone - 20,962 Oregon households
Processed and obligated an additional $29.6 million in funds for 3,544 households.
Received more than $373.3 million in funding requests via applications.
Received more than 49,939 completed applications.