SNAP receives $ 7 million in rental assistance

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, a small part of what Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners did was help people pay their rent.

“Now it’s one of our larger programs that we don’t expect to be abandoned anytime soon,” said Nicole Bishop, marketing and communications specialist for the nonprofit.

This week the Spokane County Commission decided to transfer $ 7.2 million to SNAP for emergency rentals and utility support. These dollars will help county residents who do not live within the Spokane city limits pay rent and utility bills when they experience financial difficulties.

It wasn’t Spokane County’s taxpayer money, at least not directly.

The $ 7.2 million came from the US Treasury and is a small part of the US $ 1.9 trillion rescue plan, a COVID-19 stimulus bill passed by Congress in March. The money had to be used for emergency rentals and utility support, and the county said it chose SNAP because the nonprofit was best equipped to bring the money to tenants.

The dollars are separate from the $ 101 million Spokane County will receive through the American bailout plan. Jeff McMorris, the county’s community engagement and public policy advisor, said the county will likely not begin distributing the $ 101 million until March or April.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically increased the number of people who need help with paying their rent for several reasons.

When the pandemic started, millions of Americans could not pay their rent because they had been laid off and lost their source of income. While most are now back to work, house prices in Spokane and other parts of the country have soared, making it difficult for many low-income residents to afford rent.

Bishop said rental assistance is often necessary to keep a person or household from becoming homeless.

“Many people have realized what a stabilizing force such a program has,” she said.

SNAP has helped people pay more than $ 23 million in rent since November 2020.

The non-profit divides its rental assistance data into three parts because it has received amounts of money from different places at different times.

During its first rental assistance round from November 2020 to May 2021, SNAP provided $ 8.1 million to 2,505 households. On average, each household received four months’ rent, a total of $ 3,239.

In another block, SNAP gave $ 8.3 million to 1,199 households, which translates into an average rent of eight months and $ 6,925 per household. In a third block, SNAP provided 1,157 households with a total of 6.9 million US dollars, which meant that the households were able to cover an average of seven months’ rent.

Bishop said households are not counted twice, although sometimes they can receive money more than once. She said a household could receive a total of 12 months of rent allowance.

The number of people using SNAP rental assistance has decreased year over year, but the need is still significant, Bishop said.

Bishop said it was hard to say how long that $ 7.2 million could last, but she noted a month ago that SNAP was spending between $ 100,000 and $ 130,000 in rental assistance every day.

According to Treasury Department guidelines, SNAP must use the money by September 30, 2025.

A household must meet certain qualifications in order to receive rental allowance.

First, a household must not generate more than 80% of the median land-based income. The median income in the Spokane metropolitan area in 2020 was $ 77,400 for a family of four, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Second, the Treasury Department notes that an individual in the household “must be qualified for unemployment benefits or have experienced a decrease in household income, incurred significant costs, or suffered other financial hardships directly or indirectly attributable to the coronavirus outbreak and an or several people in “the household must demonstrate a risk of homelessness or residential instability.”