Housing

Housing

The blue bars in this chart reflect data presented in the executive summary section of this Community Needs Assessment. As the data shows, the largest need reported by respondents is rental assistance and affordable housing. As mentioned previously, this is not surprising given these needs were high prior to the pandemic and have been exacerbated and/or highlighted by the pandemic. CAP has a small rental assistance program that offers a maximum benefit of $1000, which for most renters does not reflect even half of their monthly rental cost. CAP coordinates with the Community Services Division to ensure that clients who are better served by their more robust rental assistance program are routed to them. Several survey respondents expressed frustration at the process for accessing rental assistance and the length of time it was taking for benefits to be dispersed. These were shared with the CSD and led in part to the creation of an application portal. This portal tracks applications as they are processed, allowing individuals to find current information about their application. CSD expended $51million between March 2021 and September 2021 in rental assistance.