If You're Having Trouble Paying Your Rent, Read This

The COVID - 19 pandemic has wrecked many people's finances and some are facing eviction because of it.

Business closures, job losses, lay-offs, furloughs, rising prices, shortages ... the COVID 19 pandemic has dealt pretty much everyone an economic blow of some sort and some El Paso residents may find themselves homeless because of those losses.

A friend of mine is facing just such a disaster and he asked me to help him find some assistance. Neither one of us really knows what the hell we're doing but, we did found out about this. Starting Wednesday, July 22nd, a website ... eprenthelp.org ... will guide landlords through the steps to get money from the CARES Act to cover rent costs for tenants affected by the pandemic. (The website is active now but, won't begin accepting applications for financial help until 7/22/20.)

The funds are being distributed as part of the CARES Act and, unlike some past loan and funding directives, this is NOT a "first-come, first-served" scenario. (You might want to be sure your landlord knows about this asap anyway though.) According to the El Paso Herald-Post, the goal is to release these funds based on need as opposed to "who asked first". Only landlords can apply but tenants will have to do their part:

“Landlords must apply on behalf of their tenants; tenants will be required to provide information to their landlords to complete the application” EPHP