MOULTRIE, Ga. – Several Georgia residents have sought help from the Georgia Department of Community Affairs Rental Assistance program to help relieve them of financial hardship or potential eviction. One Moultrie resident has had several difficulties during his application process.

The state of Georgia received $552 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA1) under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and an additional $437 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA2) under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 from the U.S. Treasury, according to the DCA Deputy Commissioner of Housing Tonya Cureton Curry. 

“The Georgia Rental Assistance Program can provide up to 18 months of rental and utility assistance, generally paid directly to participating landlords and service providers on behalf of tenants,” she said in an email interview last week.

Todd Lynch, a 40-year-old father of six children, was one of the Moultrie applicants.

He sent a mass email to the state elected officials and local news outlets July 10 seeking help. The email contained an open letter to the Georgia General Assembly explaining his experience with the Georgia DCA Renter’s Assistance Program.

The letter states, “In August 2021, I found myself in less-than-ideal circumstances and fell into arrearages with our landlord.” 

His arrearages led him to apply for assistance on August 4, 2021. 

“Receiving no response from that application, I was able to find a way to stabilize our situation and get back on track with our landlord,” Lynch said in the open letter. “We were still in a precarious situation, but we were somehow making it work.”

Lynch did not receive initial contact about his application from his processor until Oct. 25. The processor informed Lynch of the missing required documentation needed from Lynch and his landlord.

“At that time, I informed my processor of what our current circumstances were, and that we could still benefit from the assistance, and [we] submitted any documentation that she requested to update information,” Lynch said in a phone interview.

He explained that he was working with his landlord, and they were receptive to the program. 

Lynch added, “When I applied in August, [my landlord] initially uploaded all the information. Once I reached back out, at the end of October, she was very quick to respond with anything I needed.”

Between Nov. 1 and Nov. 4, the processor informed Lynch that they still had not received a couple of missing documents including the Vendor Authorization Agreement for ACH Payment form and a Statement of Delinquent Rent form via the application portal secure message center. 

“Since [the processor] maintained that she did not get any communications from our landlord, that funds would be remitted directly to us, and required an ACH Form, and there was also a Statement of Delinquent Rent outstanding. I acquired both completed forms and uploaded them,” Lynch wrote in the open letter.

The processor informed Lynch on Nov. 10 that since he was current on rent, they would not qualify for the program, and his application would be withdrawn. Lynch was advised to reapply 30 days after his withdrawal date. 

When he asked about the appeals process, the processor told him he would have to wait 14 days to appeal.

“There’s nothing anywhere in the program policy that says I have to be currently in arrears, and I was very upset about that because we were counting on this assistance having gone so far through the process,” Lynch said. “I started reaching out to representatives and media outlets because I was upset. Then, with no further contact or anything, we were just approved for the program.”

On Nov. 12, Lynch was approved for rental assistance from Aug.1, 2021, to Feb. 28, 2022. The next day, Lynch was notified via email that he might be eligible for additional rental and/or utility assistance. 

He then had to undergo a recertification process to re-determine his eligibility. 

The email mentioned Lynch needed to complete and submit the Recertification Monthly or Annual Income form and the Recertification Household Members form with supporting documentation for consideration. It also included a link to the Georgia Rental Assistance website but not an exact link to the forms.

Lynch messaged the processor on Dec. 31 about the recertification process and the next steps of the application. 

“I submitted all recertification documentation and requested a timeline for a decision,” Lynch said.

It was almost one month later when he received a response.

On Jan. 25, his processor responded, “Documents received. You are not eligible for recertification until March 1, 2022. You were paid three (3) future payments for the period December 2021 – February 2022. Recertification is ninety (90) days after payment was issued.”

According to the open letter, Lynch did not receive a decision until March 22nd. The recertification covered March, April, May, and June.

At the end of May, Lynch applied again for recertification. 

Until June 6, the processor sent Lynch the corrections he needed to make for the application.

The processor’s last message on the application portal was on June 8.

It states, “The email from your landlord is not an acceptable proof of payments. You are a tenant payee and proof of payment made to your landlord is required to receive continued rent assistance. Failure to upload documents by June 25, 2022, will result in your application being denied.”

Lynch attempted to contact the processor and the DCA several times after the processor’s response. 

“I submitted the correct documents, well within the specified deadline, and awaited a decision. I attempted multiple times to communicate with our processor, as July’s rent was coming due and I needed to plan if we somehow didn’t qualify for assistance. None of my requests were answered or even acknowledged. I even attempted to reach out to our processor via direct email and phone,” he said. 

Towards the end of June, Lynch watched the status of his application change from “Team Leader Approved” to “Application Under Review” on the rental assistance website. 

During the Tuesday phone interview Lynch said, “Then on the evening of July 7th, I observed that our status changed to “Application Denied.” There was no communication, no email, no phone call and as of today, no physical notice indicating that it had been denied or the reason for the denial.”

Lynch sent his open letter to the elected officials of Georgia General Assembly and local news outlets on July 11. 

He received his determination letter with the “denial” status Wednesday, July 13.

The DCA Deputy Commissioner of Housing Tonya Cureton Curry responded to Lynch’s plea letter. 

“After receiving initial assistance through the GRA program, applicants may submit a recertification request every 90 days for additional assistance and their application must be re-evaluated for eligibility per Treasury guidelines,” she stated. “During the recertification process, eligibility and qualifications circumstances may change, making an applicant no longer eligible for the GRA program. This particular Moultrie resident was denied as he no longer meets the program qualifications. He received a notice from the GRA program with the reason for his denial on July 13, 2022.” 

The determination letter explaining the reason for denial states, “The documentation provided by the applicant was not sufficient to determine income eligibility or rent burden, and the applicant did not provide clarifying documentation upon request during application review within the required timeframe.”

Lynch explained he sees posts almost daily on the DCA Facebook page announcing that new applications are being accepted from the entire state of Georgia, and not only can residents get up to 18 months of rent assistance, but they can also get utility assistance. 

“We only received one utility assistance payment, and we are thankful for that as it brought us out of arrears, but I recently inquired if additional assistance might be available to help with utilities and never received any response,” he added.

“The whole purpose of this program is to help prevent housing instability, and to shore up and give some support to that stability so that people can actually get back on their feet,” Lynch said in a phone interview Tuesday. “These are federal funds that were allocated to the state of Georgia specifically for this purpose. They’re not being spent in that fashion. The people who need it the most are not getting it.”

Curry responded, “In the Moultrie area (including Colquitt, Tifton, Thomas, Mitchell, Worth, Cook and Brooks counties), the GRA program has distributed more than $2.8 million in financial assistance to 463 tenants to cover rent, utility and housing stability payments as of July 6, 2022.”

As of July 12, 2022, the GRA program has distributed $277.1 million in financial assistance across the state and supported more than 33,000 tenants seeking rental, utility and housing stability assistance to be paid to landlords and utility providers in Georgia since the program launched in March 2020.

She continued, “The GRA program processes thousands of applications per week and their most recent efforts resulted in a monthly disbursement of $52.4M to landlords, service providers and tenants in need of rental, utility, and housing stability assistance during the month of June.”

Funds remain available and the DCA encourages tenants and landlords in need to visit paymyrent.ga.gov to determine eligibility and apply.

The ERA1 program requires applicants to demonstrate a financial hardship directly related to the coronavirus pandemic and have a household income that is less than 80% of the average median income (AMI) for their area, the state said. The ERA2 program requires applicants to demonstrate a financial hardship that does not have to be COVID-related and have a household income that is less than 80% of the average median income (AMI) for their area; however, it must be related to a financial hardship that occurred since the beginning of the pandemic on March 13, 2020.