ST PAUL, Minn. — If you're behind on rent, this could help. Over a video call Wednesday, Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho announced a total $450 million is available for tenants who are behind on rent. She encouraged Minnesotans to apply to a program called RentHelpMN.
"The main goal of the program is really to help families that have been impacted economically during ... what feels now like a never-ending period of time to maintain housing stability," Ho said.
The commissioner says the program benefits both renters and landlords, and the application process works best with teamwork.
"When we can help people pay their past-due rent, that also helps the property owner pay their bills," she said. "It's a win-win situation. ... When there's a good partnership between the property and the renter, folks can get a clean application in, and that's the easiest way for us to get payments out quickly."
The commissioner says there are several contributing factors as to why people are behind on rent in January, including: seasonal work has ended, winter utility bills are high, Congress did not extend child tax credits.
"People would have received their last payment in December for those," Ho said of the tax credits.
Ho also announced a new change to the state's "forward rent" policy. You can now only request one additional month of rent assistance. Previously you could request three months of future rent.
"We have now limited that to one forward month mainly so that we can extend how many households that we can help to prevent kind of an imminent eviction with the funds that we have left," Ho said.
She says past due payments continue to be priority and it's important to get caught up.
"When a family is evicted, it does have an impact on their ability to have stable housing for years to come," she said.