CITY& COUNTY
News from Conroe & Montgomery County
$3.2million in rental assistance returned toU.S. Treasury
Montgomery County’s remaining federal rental assistance funds are split between four nonprofits.
OUTSTANDING RENTAL ASSISTANCE
Montgomery County Community Assistance Center
$2.6 MILLION
Society of Samaritans
$2.4 MILLION
Easter Seals
$2 MILLION
BY JISHNU NAIR
Interfaith of The Woodlands $550,000
MONTGOMERY COUNTY Commissioners approved a deobligation of $3.2 million in emer- gency rental assistance funds to the U.S. Treasury Department at a March 8 Montgomery County Commissioners Court session. The money was approved via the meeting’s consent agenda, meaning there was no discussion at court. The Treasury Department had set a March 31 deadline to recapture unused assistance funds. In 2020, the county received $18.1 million in federal emergency rental assistance funds through December; the county returned $7.1 million of that in November 2021, Community Impact Newspaper previously reported. Following that release, the county created a new assistance portal for residents to apply for aid. County Judge Mark Keough cited a lack of applicants in November but anticipated more residents would seek the emergency funding in 2022, when other federal grants expire.
SOURCE: MONTGOMERY COUNTY/COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER
said the program has invited counties to send unused funds to it. Ansley told Community Impact Newspaper the county requested its first $7.1 million disbursement to go to Texas Rent Relief, but the March 8 dis- bursement was requested directly by the Treasury, and the funds were required “as soon as possible”. The majority of the county's remaining $7.7 million in rental assistance is split into con- tracts with four nonprofits. “Sometimes we are their last hope,” said Tamara Young, the Community Assistance Center’s director of programs and client services, in an interview. “‘Strengthening Montgomery County one neighbor at a time’ is our motto, and we are thankful for the opportunity to partner with Montgomery County to utilize ERA funding to be able to do just this.”
Community Development Director Rebecca Ansley told Community Impact Newspaper in a March 9 email that the county had spent $929,444.03 in aid as of December. Ansley said 1,162 applicants had filed for Mont- gomery County rental assistance before the portal closed Jan. 14. The nonprofit Texas Housers, using data from Texas’ Office of Court Administration and Montgomery County courts, found 2,456 eviction cases were filed in 2021. Texas Housers researcher Ben Martin said it was important that counties, including Montgomery County, keep unused rental funds in Texas by send- ing them to the Texas Rent Relief program, which is run by the Department of Housing and Community Affairs. Although Texas Rent Relief’s direct portal is closed as of January, spokesperson Kristina Tirloni
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COMMUNITY IMPACT NEWSPAPER • COMMUNITYIMPACT.COM
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