The Alaska Housing Finance Corporation, as of September 13, started accepting applications to provide for up to three months of housing and utility assistance for eligible renters who meet the federal requirements. The deadline to apply is Friday, October 1.
Stacy Barnes, Director of Governmental Relations and Public Affairs told KSRM that rent relief is open to all Alaskans:
“Are you a renter? If the answer to that question is yes, you move on to the next step. Have you been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic? Have you lost hours in your job? Have you been laid off? Do you have additional expenses because you got new childcare requirements or you’re caring for a person in your family who is struggling as a result of this pandemic? If the answers to those questions are yes, you can move on. We invite you, then, to apply for the assistance. You don’t have to give us all your paperwork at once, but we just need to get you to that point where we’ve got your application, your information that’s been submitted into our system and then over the next few weeks, we’ll work with you to collect the information like your rental agreement so that we are able to pay your landlord directly that three months of housing assistance.”
The CDC had previously issued a temporary moratorium on most evictions for nonpayment of rent to help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but Barnes says it’s no longer in place:
“So the Supreme Court said that the president acted, the CDC acted and went too far with their approach. So the Supreme Court said no eviction moratorium. Congress may decide to act on it, but at this point and time, there are not protections for renters across the United States with the eviction moratorium. Landlords are allowed to evict tenants for failure to pay their rent.”
To date, the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation distributed more than $117 million in federal rent relief funds to landlords and utility companies to the benefit of more than 50,000 Alaska residents.
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