Roanoke financial aid options speak up

ROANOKE, Va. (WFXR) — With the statewide moratorium ending July 31st, many may be looking for assistance. Luckily, there are financial assistance opportunities waiting.

More than 100 people with Housing Choice Vouchers are still waiting to be housed, despite City of Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority officials working around the clock to find new opportunities for housing and an increase in willing landlords.

More landlords are still needed. Currently, 1400 units in our area are utilized by the housing authority. Eight public housing developments and five developments are helping with the assisted housing program.

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Evangeline Richie, Vice President of Housing for the City of Roanoke Redevelopment & Housing Authority explained, “We are actively working with Virginia Housing through their program. We are also working with TAP.”

Although the moratorium ends July 31st, getting assistance on rent could take between two and six weeks. The process of people behind on rent being evicted takes weeks, so there is still time to get assistance.

Families behind on their rent are maintaining their residence, without being able to pay, which is causing a bit of a backup in housing. “We have a great number of applicants that are currently on the waiting list. A lot of our developments, a lot of our developments will also be reopening their waitlists in the very near future,” Richie explained.

Through the Virginia Housing Rent Relief Program, you can get up to 15 months in rent paid going back to April 1st of 2020.

March of 2020 is when disconnections with the water authority were halted. That moratorium was lifted, but the Western Virginia Water Authority is choosing to hold off on disconnections until October. So before then, officials are asking you to reach out if you need help.

Sarah Baumgardner, the Public Relations Director for Western Virginia Water Authority explained, “We would much rather that they reach out to us now and get financial assistance or set up a payment plan that allows them to pay off their past due balance over a period of time.”

Originally, the Water Authority was receiving money from the CARES Act as well as Roanoke City, $245,000 dollars. Through that funding, more than 2,100 customers in our area were helped.

“We had to use all of that money to fund customers’ past due balances,” Baumgardner continued.

Now, funds are coming from the Authority Cares Program. Through that, you can get up to $100 towards your bill. You can also set up a payment plan, which could get tacked to your monthly bill to help pay down your debt over two years.