Local Residents, Advocates Push DeKalb To Speed Up Rent Relief

DEKALB COUNTY, GA — DeKalb County officials have only given out a fraction of its $21 million rent relief funds in the last three months, and now local advocates, commissioners and residents are urging for something to be done.

The county has distributed only 3.5 percent of the funds from the $21 million grant for the Tenant-Landlord Assistance Coalition, which was created in February and designed to provide financial relief to DeKalb renters threatened by eviction and landlords facing revenue losses, both due to the pandemic.

Applications for the program closed after 10 days due to "overwhelming demand," but only 193 households have been helped so far, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Related:

• DeKalb Receives $21M Grant For Rent Relief, Eviction Prevention
• Over 2,000 People Apply For DeKalb's New Rent Relief Program
• DeKalb To Close Applications For Rent Relief Program

The delay in relief rollout is in part due to a cyberattack on the program, which occurred in late March. DeKalb Chief Operating Officer Zach Williams said during the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners meeting Tuesday that the FBI is involved in a criminal investigation of the incident and that's why fund distribution is taking longer.

“These families need help now, and they can’t wait any longer,” Ellie Thaxton, a Clarkston-area advocate, said Tuesday.

But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of June — and some residents, like Angelique Anderson of Stone Mountain, say they are desperate.

Anderson is a single mom of four, who had to leave her job during the COVID-19 pandemic to watch her children and help them through virtual school. She said she applied for unemployment benefits, but never received them.

She also applied for DeKalb County's rental assistance program, but never got a response back. She's now $3,500 behind in rent.

“I am now under eviction and cannot move anywhere else due to having an open eviction case. The complex will not accept partial payments, only full payment,” Anderson wrote. “I am stuck.”

Anderson's written statement of her experiences was read aloud during the board's public comment period Tuesday.

“We are getting more and more emails and calls from our DeKalb neighbors begging for relief. We need to act now,” Commissioner Ted Terry said Tuesday.

Terry called for the TLAC program to be reset or thrown out altogether, and for local nonprofits to administer the program's money instead. A spokesperson for DeKalb County told the AJC that the county's already distributed $11 million in rent relief funds that way previously.

He also said not all of the funds will be distributed by the end of the month.

An announcement from DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond on next steps of the program is expected by Friday.