On Tuesday, August 4th AAR’s Matthew Contorelli and other housing and property rights advocates finally saw the Rental Property Owner Preservation Fund (RPOPF) established after weeks of discussions with the Governor. AAR has provided an overview of the program.
Rental Property owners affected by their tenant’s inability to pay rent due to Covid-19 are financially harmed, and this is a first step in helping rental property owners. These are grant funds, available on a first come/first serve basis.
The property owner does not need to be in foreclosure or at risk of foreclosure to access the funds. The qualifying criteria is that the property owner is facing direct or indirect hardship due to the tenant’s inability to pay rent, and is struggling to make the property mortgage payment.
There is $5million available in the fund. AAR and other housing industry groups are continuing to advocate for additional funds.
There are several questions on the application that will require property owners to have already computed amounts and gathered documents like lease agreements, ledgers, documentation of unpaid rents.
The grant funds are capped at $2,500,000 for small rental property owners, with an individual capped at $50,000. The other $2,500,000 is designated for large rental property owners with an individual capped at $50,000.
Small rental property owners are defined as owning up to 5 single family properties or up to 20 total units in a multifamily property. There are several additional criteria including property owners whose tenants have not paid OR received rental assistance. There are also unallowable expenses, so make sure to check the grant website for details.
This program was established on Aug. 4, 2020 and began taking application submissions on August 6th. This is the program promised by the Governor when he extended the rental eviction moratorium to October 31, 2020 in his July 16th Executive Order.
Here are some direct links to the program: Click on the Files tab
Application
Guide to filling out the application
FAQ