Additional Rent Relief on the Way for Dallas Tenants Impacted by Pandemic

More relief is on the way for tenants who were negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Dallas City Council on Wednesday morning approved a measure to amend Emergency Rental Assistance and Utility Program requirements and add more than $50 million in federal money to help with rent and utilities.

The additional funds allow Dallas to remove a cap that only allowed applicants to receive $1,500 of support each month, up to $18,000 for one year. The latest funding also will allow tenants to receive financial aid for more than one year, depending on the availability of remaining funds and their applications.

The DHA Housing Solutions for North Texas is accepting applications for up to 12 months of past due and future rent assistance through the city’s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

Applications can be submitted at dallasrentrelief.com, and tenants must submit proof of income and job loss. Once an application is approved, payments can be processed within three weeks and will be made to the renter’s landlord or an applicant’s account.

To qualify, Dallas residents must have an annual income at or below 80 percent of the area median income, or $48,000 for a single-person household. The program will prioritize those who are at or below 50 percent of the area median income (AMI), or $30,200 for a single-person household, and applicants where at least one member of the household is unemployed and has been for 90 days before the application.

The Texas Rent Relief Program has paid about $412 million to nearly 65,000 households since February. In Dallas County ZIP codes, about $65 million has been given to more than 10,031 households.

Residents in the 75243 ZIP code, which is mostly Dallas but also includes Richardson and Garland, have received $3.358 million in aid.

To learn more about Texas Rent Relief Program assistance, click here.

To view the Dallas City Council’s actions on rental assistance, click here (Click Item 35 on the Meeting Index tab)