BATON ROUGE, La. – Louisiana officials said Sunday they have suspended an emergency rent assistance program to help those hurt by the COVID-19 economic slowdown because they were quickly overwhelmed with applicants.
They said more than 40,000 people had begun the application process in less than four days. The Lousiana Housing Corportation had estimated it had enough money to help about 10,000 tenants, with money paid directly to landlords.
The Corporation had set aside $24 million of federal money for the program and says it will try to find more money after the flood of applications.
When the program was announced Thursday, housing advocates said it was a good start, but was far too little money, especially with the $600-per-week federal unemployment payments expiring at the end of the month.
“The response to our state’s emergency rental assistance program proves how significant the economic burden of COVID-19 is for our citizens,” Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards said in a statement.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.