Low-income families can now apply for rental assistance in Florida

DORAL, FL – The Florida Department of Children and Families will be taking applications for rental assistance from low-income and unemployed families.

Eligible families can benefit from the $740 million dollars the state received in federal funds aimed at helping those who are experiencing homelessness or that don’t have a place to live moving forward.

To be eligible, renters also need to have experienced a loss of income or financial hardship during the last year and be behind on rent or utility payments or at risk of falling behind.

“You know, if there is one piece of advice I could give to those families is just make the call. Don’t be ashamed, don’t be worried. The most important thing there is that your child has a safe, stable and loving home and if this fund can get you there, then there’s no shame in making that call,” Vice President of Operations of Embrace Families Solutions Rebecca Leininger said to Wesh2.

To learn if you qualify and to apply, go to Our Florida website, which is the organization taking applications, managing cases and answering calls of this emergency rental assistance program.

“This money could not have come at a more important time,”  Rebecca Leininger said. “In the last fiscal year, for example, we received 600 requests for service of families who are literally homeless, in hotels, living in their cars.”

“The real spike in requests for service have been people who have lost their jobs or have lost significant amounts of income due to the COVID pandemic and they just don’t have the savings, they just don’t have the resources in order to get themselves back on their feet,” Leininger pointed out.

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