NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Some renters have been waiting months for emergency rent relief, and the Tennessee Housing Development Agency says they’re working with their hired contractor to get through the backlog.
NewsChannel 5 talked to Michele Jones and Travette Vasser. They've been waiting on COVID-19 emergency rent relief funding. The goal was to stop evictions, but in the meantime, they were forced out of their homes anyways.
So we asked Jeremy Heidt, the director of government affairs with TDHA: What's going on with the funding delay?
“We’re working through the backlog with those, "Heidt said. "We closed the program down in January on the 6th, but everybody who was in the program who already applied, we’re working to get them through that program.”
THDA's contractor, Horne, is responsible for processing applications and providing technical assistance to renters and landlords. Horne is an accounting and financial firm.
According to a Tennessee General Assembly memorandum, the state is paying the firm more than $26 million to handle the money.
"If the landlord doesn’t participate, then the funding goes directly to the tenant," Heidt said.
Next, Heidt said they're taking steps to launch a new initiative to assist renters.
"We got to take some of the money that was left in that program, and we’re going to repurpose that directly to help with evictions in the court process,” Heidt said.
But as for Michele, Travette, and other renters like them, it's too late.
"So I know that that’s frustrating, but it’s a process to go through the court system, it’s a process to go through any of the federal restrictions that we’re working with," Heidt said.
A lot of questions remain unanswered. NewsChannel 5 reached out to Horne for more information on the backlog, and we're waiting to hear back.
