WV PRESS ASSOCIATION
CHARLESTON — West Virginia’s emergency rental assistance program, which has provided nearly $150 million in rent and utility payments over the past 17 months, will stop taking applications Friday.
Eligible applications submitted as of 11:59 p.m. Friday will be reviewed for eligibility and paid as funding allows.
The Mountaineer Rental Assistance Program was created in March 2021 to help renters across the state who experienced economic hardship because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The program connected eligible renters to emergency federal funding set aside by Congress to address pandemic-related issues, including housing. The program will now focus on finalizing open applications. The program closed the application process to reapplications in early August to allow first-time applicants to access funds.
“The Mountaineer Rental Assistance Program is unlike anything West Virginia has ever seen,” said Erica Boggess, executive director of the West Virginia Housing Development Fund, which administers the program. “Congress set aside billions of dollars to address housing stability issues during the pandemic, which is truly unprecedented. But the federal government never intended this program to be permanent.”
It is vital for renters who have applied for assistance to review their applications to ensure all requested documents are submitted and to reply to any communications from their caseworkers. Failure to do so will result in the application being rejected.
Landlords must also register in the system to be paid for a tenant’s application. Tenants and landlords can go to www.wvrentalassistance.com to review eligibility and document requirements. For assistance, call 866-623-6284 or visit help.wvmrap.com to login and view or track your application.
“Rental assistance may be ending in West Virginia, but our work at the Housing Development Fund will continue,” Boggess said. “This agency has worked for more than 50 years to increase access to safe, affordable housing for all West Virginians. Our programs have placed thousands of our friends and neighbors into stable housing they can afford, and we will continue working toward our mission long after the pandemic is over.”
