INDIANA – Lt. Gov. Suzanne Crouch and the Board of Directors for the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority (IHCDA) today announced that they will allocate more than $91 million to the City of Indianapolis for its rental assistance program, IndyRent. The allocation of these funds will allow the city to provide nine additional months of rental assistance beyond its current three-month eligibility.
To serve Hoosiers in Marion County, IHCDA will be providing $91 million to the IndyRent program. This funding comes from the Department of Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance program allocation, passed in December 2020, of roughly $371 million to the State of Indiana.
“As stewards of such critical funds, our administration continues to ensure we help as many Hoosiers as possible,” Crouch said. “It is important as Indiana moves forward from the pandemic that we include housing in the recovery plan.”
According to Treasury guidelines, any county or municipality with a population of over 200,000 was eligible to apply to administer their own program. The City of Indianapolis received $28,880,903.80, which it put towards its existing IndyRent program. IndyRent has obligated nearly 100% of the $28 million they received. The city’s program will now be able to pay 12 total months of rental assistance.
“We’re proud to partner with the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority to reduce housing insecurity and extend a lifeline to residents still feeling the economic impact of the pandemic,” said Indianapolis Mayor Joe Hogsett. “This funding nearly doubles our rental assistance resources, keeping tenants in their units and keeping landlords afloat.”
The State of Indiana was made the grantee of $371 million, IHCDA is the administrator of those funds. The City of Indianapolis will receive $91 million from the $371 million total.
“IHCDA remains committed to allocating funds from the federal government to Hoosiers in need,” said Jacob Sipe, Executive Director of IHCDA. “Housing stability continues to be one of our top priorities and we are happy to help the City of Indianapolis provide nine additional months of rental assistance to Hoosiers recovering from the pandemic.”
To date, IHCDA has obligated over $64 million of the total given by the Treasury. The Indiana Emergency Rental Assistance (IERA) program remains open to new applications while we diligently process those currently in the system.
The Indiana Emergency Rental Assistance program (IERA) is designed to decrease evictions, increase housing stability, and prevent homelessness by helping renter households whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19 with rent and utility assistance.
IERA can provide eligible renters with up to 12 months of assistance. Qualifying applicants may also receive utility and/or home energy assistance. This includes help with paying past-due utilities (electric, gas, water, sewer, and trash) and home energy (fuel oil, wood, coal, pellets, and propane) expenses.
Hoosiers in need of assistance should go to IndianaHousingNow.org to apply for assistance.
