Jersey City opens two-week window to apply for $10K in coronavirus rental

Jersey City residents who are behind on their rent could see some relief soon.

As of Tuesday, applications for Jersey City’s COVID-19 rent relief program are now open, giving residents in need the opportunity to apply for rental and utilities aid.

Residents must apply before Sept. 1 and fulfill certain requirements to be eligible for the funds. Applicants must be Jersey City renters and must live in an owner-occupied building with two to four units. To qualify, residents also must have owed rent since April of 2020 and have an income below 50% of the area median income (AMI), which was $76,900 in the 2020 fiscal year.

Residents must have also “incurred significant pandemic-induced cost or financial hardship,” according to a city press release. The city plans to expand the eligibility pool, according to a July 21 press release.

Jersey City has roughly $7.8 million in federal funds allocated for the program and households will be eligible for up to $10,000 for rent and rental arrears. Once awarded, the assistance will be paid directly to a landlord or property manager.

“We understand that families are struggling to pay rent, and small property owners are also struggling to keep up with the mortgage and other bills,” Fulop said in the press release. “That’s why we are focusing on owner-occupied buildings with four units or less, because they have been the hardest-hit and will benefit most from this aid, rather than large businesses.”

Applicants can apply at jcnj.org/HardshipAssistance.

The aid comes as the end of New Jersey’s eviction moratorium looms. For residents making above 80% of AMI (who would not be eligible for Jersey City’s rent relief program), the moratorium ends Aug. 31. Those making below 80% of AMI cannot be evicted until Dec. 31.

Jersey City was awarded the $7.8 million in federal rental assistance funding in February, and the city council passed a resolution accepting it in March. But as of June 30, the most recent date for which federal data is available, the city had not used any of that money to pay rent, rental arrears, or utilities.

Meanwhile, Hudson County, which received $12.2 million through the same program, began accepting applications in February. The county has allocated $11 million of its share of the money, and has disbursed $4.2 million, according to Frank Mazza, the director of the county’s Department of Housing and Community Integration.

But since Jersey City is running its own program, Jersey City residents are not eligible for the county’s $12.2 million. Asked why the city hadn’t gotten that money to residents sooner, city spokeswoman Kim Wallace-Scalcione said that the program was “well within the federal guidelines, so it is unclear why anyone would imply otherwise.”

Wallace-Scalcione cited the city’s “multiple financial assistance programs,” including Jersey City’s COVID-19 Hardship Assistance Program, which launched in January. That initiative paid out $2.5 million in rent and utility relief to 1,638 households, with a maximum of $1,500 per household.

“We have a diverse community with wide-ranging needs that we are working to meet, and so we wanted to maximize this…