By Brittany Anderson
As the search for a new Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program manager continues, Hays County has lost more rental assistance funds for the program — and residents that are most in need of aid are at risk of not receiving any in a timely manner.
County officials reported on Feb. 11 that another $1.7 million in rental assistance funds was recaptured by the U.S. Treasury Department on Feb. 10. This comes after $772,291 was recaptured in September.
The county initially received $6.9 million in funds from the Treasury’s ERA1 program in January 2021. Funds were to be paid to landlords, utility service providers and hotels to aid qualified residents who have been impacted by COVID-19 relative to rental and utility payments in order to prevent evictions and shut off utility services.
Additionally, the county decided to handle the management of the program “in-house,” rather than hire a third party, in order to lower administrative costs and maximize the funding available to residents.
The Treasury has specific guidelines for disseminating the funds, and, under the federal guidelines for this grant, periodically reviews the county to assess the funding distribution. While the county has paid out about $1.2 million since the program’s official inception in July 2021, the now $2.4 million total loss is due to the county not meeting the Treasury’s “targeted milestones for distribution.”
While there are still millions of dollars in funds remaining, the county is at risk for getting more funds recaptured in the future if milestones continue to not be met.
The county has unsuccessfully attempted to prevent the recapture of funds twice now — in September, when they submitted a program improvement plan to the Treasury, and on Feb. 7, when Hays County Judge Ruben Becerra sent a letter to U.S. Reps. Chip Roy (R), Roger Williams (R) and Lloyd Doggett (D) asking for an “extension of time” in order to adequately allocate the funding to residents.
Becerra’s letter outlined how in the one-month period since the resignation of program manager Wesley Matthews on Jan. 7, the ERA program has processed 100 tickets in an amount of approximately $265,000, and an additional 88 tickets are under auditor review for payment processing.
“Even after repeated direction from the commissioners court, the program manager isolated a single facet of individuals needing assistance, rather than utilizing a multi-faceted approach to reach as many citizens in need as possible,” Becerra wrote in the letter.
Becerra went on to say that while they are aware they have not met the targeted milestone to retain funding, they are hopeful they will be granted the ability to retain funding and prevent future recaptures, given the measures they have taken to get the program on track and the significant progress made since Matthews’ departure.
Despite Becerra’s claims that the program’s shortcomings were a result of Matthews’ “narrow approach,” Matthews said during the Feb. 1 commissioners court meeting that the program’s setbacks have largely been caused by a lack of staffing, and that he had been asking for additional case workers during his time as program manager.
Matthews explained that with the two workers they had, they could only process around 40 tickets a month. With six workers — one for each precinct and the ERA office, he explained — they could have processed upwards of 480 tickets a month, which would have resulted in over $1 million in relief.
Residents have also been vocal about the program, and many spoke about their experiences during the Jan. 18 and Feb. 1 commissioners court meetings. Some spoke about how the ERA program has helped them and its necessity for the community, while others expressed their frustrations with the program’s mismanagement and fears that funds will continue to be recaptured.
In the meantime, the county ensures that progress is being made through a more “streamlined process,” and that staff from various county offices have stepped in as volunteers to help serve the program in order to keep providing relief until a new program manager is identified.
Program manager proposals were due on Feb. 10 and will be reviewed by the evaluation committee. Proposals have been submitted by Ardurra Group, Inc., Blanco River Regional Recovery Team, LiveStories and Metric Engineering, Inc.
For more information on the program, visit www.hayscountytx.com/emergency-rental-assistance-program.
