Deadline looms for rental aid as demand leads to lengthy waits

Clark County delivered an urgent message this week to residents financially stricken by the pandemic: Apply by a looming Dec. 30 deadline for rental assistance if they have not done so already.

Backed by federal coronavirus relief funding, the $100 million CARES Housing Assistance Program has provided direct payments since July to landlords and mortgage and utility companies on behalf of eligible residents in the incorporated or unincorporated county who cannot make the payments themselves.

Known as CHAP, the program has dished out roughly $36 million to 9,500 households as of Friday, according to the county, acting as a lifeline to the most vulnerable in the region at a time when eviction is perhaps the biggest pandemic-related threat next to dying from COVID-19.

But as county officials on Tuesday urged those in need to ensure they put their names into the queue before deadline, the program has not been without criticism from those who say it is moving too slowly and who feel left in the dark about their status after applying.

“I have called CHAP agencies and said what do you need to process applications faster?” Carmella Gadsen, a local community advocate, told commissioners. “Do you need volunteers? Do you need funds to hire more staff?”

Applications are taking three to four weeks to process due to an overwhelming amount of demand for the program, which has 250 workers supporting it including county employees and temp agency staff, according to the county.

“We see the results, it’s just not coming fast enough,” Commissioner Lawrence Weekly said during a board meeting Tuesday before addressing county staff. “And we push you guys to the limit to make it faster, make it faster.”

‘Not very helpful at all’

Nathaniel Phillips returned to Las Vegas in June after being laid off in Arizona. He said he has been unsuccessful in finding work, including in his background in human resources for casinos, despite applying to more than 1,000 jobs.

After having applied through the CHAP portal on Nov. 17, Phillips, 41, said he was approved nearly a month later on Tuesday. But without realizing how long the application process might take, he said he sent three emails beginning late last month to the address provided on the CHAP website to inquire about his status, only to hear back just this week.

“Once you apply, it’s not very helpful at all,” he said, noting that the website only showed his application was pending until his status became “active.”

“I get they’re trying to do the best they can on the short notice of getting this all together, but it’s kind of like the website was worthless because it didn’t do anything to inform us.”

Visitors to the CHAP portal are now greeted by a pop-up alert notifying them of how long it is taking to process applications.

Daniel Magyar, a personal trainer who said he is currently unable to get clients, shared similar concerns about the program’s execution.

Magyar, 26, said this week that he applied in late October and his status turned to “active” two to three weeks ago. Because his rent was set up to be automatically drawn from his account, he said he assumed that his landlord would refund him once paid through CHAP.

But Magyar said his landlord told him they had not received payment nor heard from the county. Unlike Phillips, Magyar said he had been assigned to two county social services caseworkers throughout the process who he claimed have been unresponsive to his questions.

“Nobody talks to me,” he said. “So what can you do when nobody replies to your emails, nobody cares?”

The county said that applicants will be notified if they have been accepted by email, sent to the address they provided in their application.

Much left to process

Although the county has delivered $36 million in aid to date to roughly 9,500 applicants, it has received more than 25,000 applications. And of the more than 1,420 landlords who have applied on behalf of tenants, the county said it has thus far provided relief to more than 75.

But the county said it will continue to process applications as funding allows as long as they are received by Dec. 30.

And while it expects to spend all $100 million allocated to the program, the county said it also hopes to obtain a second round of stimulus funding for the program in 2021, underscoring why it is important that residents put their applications into the queue.

On Oct. 15, the county launched a CHAP website portal in a partnership with IBM, which the county said has helped to speed up the process because it enabled applications and supporting documentation to be processed electronically instead of manually.

“We know there are tremendous needs in our community, and we are dedicated to helping as many people as we can based on the funding we have available,” the county said in a statement.

The assistance — offered on a first-come, first-serve basis — is authorized for past due or current rent, mortgage and utility balances that occur between March 1 and Dec. 30, 2020.

It is only necessary for residents to apply once, with supporting documentation showing how much they owe in back rent, mortgage or utility payments for the period of time the assistance is being requested, the county said.

It is also critical that applicants submit documentation that shows proof of financial hardship due to the pandemic, or else the application will be rejected.

County officials say they are also working on putting into place master-lease agreements and transitional housing for more dwelling options, educating the public on what an eviction notice looks like to prevent renters from being fooled by unofficial notices, and seeking more funds for rental assistance from the state.

“We can just not allow in COVID times to have people out on the street,” Commissioner Tick Segerblom said.

County urged to ‘do more’ on evictions

But community advocates also implored county lawmakers Tuesday to use whatever power they have to stop evictions too, as Segerblom suggested exploring adding procedures before an eviction and, to prevent them, working with the Las Vegas Justice Court and potentially seeking the Legislature’s help in early February.

Bliss Requa-Trautz, director of the Arriba Las Vegas Workers Center, said that Gov. Steve Sisolak’s latest moratorium on most residential evictions through March merely delays the inevitable as back-rent accumulates and families are harassed by corporate landlords.

Evictions in progress will move forward once the moratorium expires, she said, urging commissioners to close eviction courts, increase resources to families at risk and treat evictions like a public health issue disproportionately affecting people of color.

“The governor’s intervention is important and we’re grateful but it does not go far enough, and no county has been harder hit than Clark County,” Requa-Trautz said. “We know that you have the ability to do more here.”

More than 4,200 summary eviction cases were filed in Las Vegas Justice Court last month, up from 3,055 in October, and close to 79 percent higher than November 2019, court data shows.

The spike in cases came after the first state eviction moratorium in the spring expired in mid-October because Sisolak said it was “duplicative” with a federal pause on evictions that will end Dec. 31.

Justice Court, county at odds

As eviction cases climbed over the past few months, so to did some county commissioners’ angst with the Justice Court.

“We’ve been very frustrated trying to figure out how to influence the Justice Court to limit what they’re doing,” Commissioner Justin Jones told the Nevada Current in a story posted Dec. 11. “Perhaps public shaming is the only way to accomplish the goal.”

The comments left Justice of the Peace Suzan Baucum “dismayed” and led her and other Justice Court officials to cancel a planned appearance at the commission meeting to discuss evictions, according to a letter Baucum wrote Monday to commission Chairwoman Marilyn Kirkpatrick.

“It is clear to me that Tuesday’s (commission) hearing is not intended to include any productive dialogue about the management of the Court,” she wrote.

Baucum insisted the Justice Court was simply following the law: The federal moratorium allowed cases to be filed and heard and, while preventing eviction orders from being issued for non-payment of rent, it authorized evictions for criminal activity and violations of other terms of a lease.

She also noted that less than two weeks before Sisolak announced the new state moratorium on Dec. 13, she rejected his office’s request to unilaterally pause evictions because it went beyond her authority.

Now Baucum said that she was preparing an administrative order to be consistent with the state moratorium, which bans landlords through March from removing tenants under previously approved evictions.

Assistant County Manager Jeffrey Wells said officials have reminded constable offices of the new moratorium, in effect since Tuesday, and asked them to cease posting notices or executing evictions.

To apply for CHAP assistance, visit http://CHAP.ClarkCountyNV.gov, where applicants may watch videos explaining the process in English and Spanish.

Applicants with questions should send an email to CHAPinfo@ClarkCountyNV.gov, or CHAPayuda@ClarkCountyNV.gov for Spanish. Landlords with questions should send an email to CHAPlandlords@ClarkCountyNV.gov.

Contact Shea Johnson at sjohnson@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @Shea_LVRJ on Twitter.