Emergency Assistance

How the Program Works

Emergency Assistance provides immediate help for short periods for families who don't have enough money to prevent becoming homeless or having their utilities shut off due to a crisis beyond the control of the family. The purpose is to keep families from losing their homes or to help families find new homes. The payment is available once in a twelve month period for eligible households.

Services provided include:

  • Payments for rent, security deposits, mortgage, and utilities.
  • Referrals to legal services to avoid being thrown out of one's house or apartment.
  • Counseling in how to plan and keep budgets.
  • People who can act as go-betweens to help resolve problems with landlords and mortgage companies.

Payments provided will not be more than:

  • $450 per family for one month's rent.
  • $700 per family for one month's mortgage payment.
  • $300 per family for paying utilities.

How to Qualify

The family must meet ALL eight of the following conditions to be able to receive assistance:

  1. The family must have lost their home or be about to lose their home or their utilities because they have past-due payments that resulted from an event (a crisis) that happened beyond the control of the family.
  2. The family must be able to keep their housing or utilities or find new housing with a single rent, deposit, mortgage, or utility payment.
  3. The family must show how it will make past due payments and pay future months' rent, mortgage, or utility payments after the crisis has been solved.
  4. The family must have already tried all other means of getting the money to pay or tried to set up a repayment plan.
  5. The value of all the household assets and things the family owns cannot be more than $2000.00. These include assets and possessions that are immediately available to the family members.
  6. The household’s total income per month cannot be more than 185% of the Standard Needs Budget (SNB), based on the household's size.  Click here to review the income limits.
  7. The payment is available once in a 12-month period.
  8. The household must have at least one dependent child who is under 18 living in their home