ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County and the city of Orlando will, in the coming days, hold several informational sessions on their emergency rental assistance programs for tenants and organizations. The idea is to get word out to as many people as possible who might need help to remain stably housed after suffering financially from COVID-19.

Orange County is inviting organizations to register for a virtual training session on July 28 at 2 p.m., to help them get comfortable with the county’s ERA application process. Any organization that serves county residents is welcome to sign up.

The city of Orlando is also holding a series of informational sessions for affected renters residing within the city limits. On Thursday at noon, the city will host a virtual lunch and learn session, to coach residents through the application process. 

The city will also hold four in-person help sessions next Tuesday and Wednesday, at the city’s HOLA (Hispanic Office for Local Assistance) office and Camping World Stadium. On both days, sessions will be held at noon at HOLA and at 6 p.m. at the Varsity Club at Camping World Stadium. You can check out all the available sessions under the Upcoming Events section on the city’s website. 

Orange County Citizen Resource and Outreach Division Manager Dianne Arnold said that as of Tuesday evening, almost 30 groups had registered for the county’s virtual training session — only about an hour after Mayor Jerry Demings announced the event.

“We don’t want anybody in Orange County that has had a financial impact from COVID to not get assistance because they don’t know about it,” Arnold told Spectrum News.

Arnold said it’s important people check out the program’s requirements — which are available online — before assuming they won’t qualify.

“There are some people, we’ve heard, that think if they now have a job, they couldn’t get help. That’s not true,” Arnold said. “As long as you meet the income requirements and you have that COVID impact, you can definitely still qualify for the program. We’re not going to deny you because you now have a job.”

Orange County’s virtual training for organizations is scheduled for just three days before July 31, when the CDC’s eviction moratorium is set to expire. Arnold pointed out the county has been proactive in its efforts to help residents stay housed throughout the pandemic, such as with its former eviction diversion program. 

“Even though the eviction moratorium may end, this funding doesn’t have a deadline for spending all the money until September 2022,” Arnold said. “The funding wasn’t tied to the eviction [moratorium] deadline.”

However, the federal ERA funding Orange County’s currently working to distribute targets renters who currently have somewhere to live and are at risk of losing that housing – not people who have already become homeless. To help those folks, separate batches of federal funding were included in the American Rescue Plan Act passed earlier this year.

The Treasury Department recently said it’s working to create a “commitment letter process” that would help families who have already lost their housing gain access to ERA funds.

Additionally, housd, a local nonprofit focused on affordable housing, and Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida are partnering to hold a series of five longer informational sessions, where attendees can get help submitting their application from start to finish. The times and locations for these longer help sessions are listed below:

Saturday sessions

• Saturday, July 17: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
  Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Institutional Church
  Fellowship Hall
  535 W. Washington St, Orlando FL, 32801
  
• Saturday, July 24: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
  HANDS of Central Florida
  1707 Orlando Central Parkway #350
  Orlando FL, 32809
• Saturday, July 31: 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
  St. John's Missionary Baptist Church
  2401 S. Ronald Reagan Blvd.
  Altamonte Springs, FL 32701

Thursday sessions

• Thursday, July 22: 2 p.m.-5 p.m.
  HOPE Partnership
  2420 Old Vineland Road
  Kissimmee, FL 34746
• Thursday, July 22: 3 p.m.-7 p.m.
  Christian Service Center
  808 W. Central Blvd.
  Orlando, FL 32805

You can check out our housing resource page for links to other assistance programs across the region.

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.