GCAA · Hurricane Helene Rental Assistance Fund $250K Assistance Fund · Distributed to Approved Housing Providers
The Greater Charlotte Apartment Association (GCAA) has established a rental assistance fund to aid its members in providing housing for families affected by Hurricane Helene in Western North Carolina.
The $250,000 fund will offer direct payments to rental housing owners who provide short or long-term housing to families relocating from specific storm-ravaged counties in Western NC.
At the end of July, federal resources helping so many apartment residents make their rent payments during the COVID emergency will expire. The federal eviction moratorium will also run out. Meanwhile, a recent report noted an 8 percent drop in rent payments between June and July, with residents in workforce and class C properties experiencing particular hardship. Media reports abound of “eviction tsunamis” on the horizon.
For the next three weeks, Congress will grapple with how to respond to this housing crisis and they are being bombarded with calls to extend the federal eviction moratorium. They must hear from the apartment industry or we risk being left behind in the final legislation.
An eviction moratorium may keep residents in their homes in the short term, but it will just put them months behind in their payments that they will struggle to ever make up. And months of lost rent will cripple our industry’s ability to protect our communities, pay our employees and meet our own financial obligations. A robust and targeted rental assistance program, on the other hand, will keep residents who have a COVID-related hardship in their homes and keep apartment communities stable and solvent.
The members of GCAA invite and encourage you to join! By working together, we can achieve our mission to maintain and enhance our industry as a whole.
All membership applications for the GCAA must be approved by the Board of Directors. All memberships are company based and individuals cannot join GCAA.