Nearly 40,000 Oregon households receive over $282 million in rental assistance relief
Written by Press Release on February 18, 2022
SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Housing and Community Services (OHCS) announced that as of Feb. 14, the emergency response program has paid out $282.4 million in federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) to 39,797 households, up from $278.3 million and 39,303 applicants last week, through the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program (OERAP).
OERAP continues to be one of the nation’s top-performing programs and is ranked fourth in the nation, in the percentage of federal ERA funds paid out and obligated, as tracked by the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
OHCS is currently accepting new applications following our portal reopening on Jan. 26, 2022. Tenants can apply for OERAP at oregonrentalassistance.org or call 211 if they have questions. New applications will start getting reviewed for payment once the portal closes to new applicants.
OERAP applicant and landlord call center
OERAP has launched an applicant call center available to tenants who have successfully completed an application and received a tenant protection letter with an application number. Applicants with general questions about the program or questions about utility assistance should continue to call 211 to be connected to services.
Tenants inquiring about a specific application submitted prior to Dec. 1, 2021, may contact the call center during regular business hours at 844-378-2931. Please have the application number ready for the customer support staff who have access to interpreters speaking 241 languages. Tenants can also check the status of their application online at oregonrentalassistance.org/.
OERAP also launched a call center specifically for landlords. Please call 844-378-2931 (option 2). This service is available for landlords who have been notified that their tenant successfully completed an OERAP application.
Progress and updated numbers
OHCS and its processing partner, Public Partnerships LLC (PPL), have made significant strides in the past several weeks to speed up application processing. Currently, 265 PPL staff are focusing on processing applications and answering thousands of inquiries from tenants and landlords. This is in addition to the applications processed by Local Public Administrators working across the state to finish paying out ERA 1 funds.
To date, OHCS and LPAs:
- Paid $282,492,184 to landlords and tenants to help 39,797 Oregon households.
- Are currently reviewing 3,760 applications for payment that were submitted prior to Dec. 1, 2021.
- Need applicant or landlord response for 4,451 applications that were submitted prior to Dec. 1, 2021.
- Received 8,638 applications since the portal reopened on Jan. 26, 2022. OHCS is focusing on paying out eligible applications that were received before Dec. 1, 2021, and will pay out the new eligible applications after the three-to-five-week for accepting new applications is over.
Visit the OERAP dashboard for more data.