More than $800 million in federal funds have been accepted by the Florida Legislature to provide Floridians rental assistance through the website, OURFlorida.com. The site began accepting applications last week.
The “OUR,” standing for Opportunities for Utilities and Rental Assistance, is available to all Floridians. Both tenants and landlords may apply for the federal assistance to cover losses taken in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
With federal funding available statewide, Floridians in counties with populations under 200,000 people, who were unable to receive previous rental assistance provided by the federal government, will now be eligible to apply for and receive assistance.
In order to qualify for the funding, renters must make at or below 80% of the median income in their area. Also, tenants who earn only 50% of their area median income and lost their job within the last 90 days can get assistance. The area median income differs from location and changes based on the number of members in a household.
The Florida Department of Children and Families indicated that renters who qualify must also have experienced income loss and must be “at risk of losing their home or are living in unstable or unhealthy living condition,” according to the Tampa Bay Times. OUR Florida also allows landlords to request assistance for their tenants as long as tenants provide signatures on the application.
Floridians who apply for the OUR Florida emergency rental assistance are required to provide personal information including any type of government issued identification, 2020 income tax documentation, unemployment benefit documentation, bank statements, pay stubs, and any type of notice that documents an eviction are an imminent eviction.
The OUR Florida program is part of the stimulus package passed by Congress in December 2020 that includes an allocation of $25 billion to rental assistance for Americans.
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Casey Owens is a writer at The Florida Capital Star. Follow him on Twitter at @cowensreports. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Florida Senate Capitol” by Michael Rivera CC 3.0.
