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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndianapolis’ eviction-based rental assistance program, IndyRent, will “temporarily” stop taking applications June 26, the city announced Friday.
The “pause” is to ensure renters who have filled out an application can be given the remaining funding, according to the city.
About 1,000 applications are awaiting review, Department of Metropolitan Development spokeswoman Hannah Thomas told IBJ in an email. Thomas did not immediately respond to an IBJ inquiry about when the portal would reopen or how much funding remains.
City officials announced in April that it had received a $6.7 million infusion of funds from the federal Emergency Rental Assistance II program. That funding was intended to keep the program in operation through the end of 2023.
At the April announcement, Mayor Joe Hogsett said the program would run through the rest of the year, but that the city was exploring options to make it sustainable beyond that point. He cited a funding projection of about $1 million a month.
The program’s April relaunch came after a hiatus that began in November. IndyRent began as a COVID-19 pandemic initiative and, at the height of the pandemic in 2020, Indianapolis spent nearly $34 million in federal money on rental assistance in just six months.
The application requires an eviction case number, a provision that began in July 2022.
Indianapolis renters have recently experienced a higher rate of evictions than the rest of the nation. In the first six months of 2022, 6.7 evictions were filed for every 100 rental households, according to The Polis Center at IUPUI. The same report says that Indianapolis ranks among the top cities in the country for total eviction filings, behind New York and Detroit.
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It you don’t pay your rent, you get evicted. During the pandemic was a joke. Unemployed received $600 per week extra. Plus stimulus money. Then people didn’t pay rent, and whatever other hand-outs were taken. Go get a job and pay your rent. Plenty of jobs out there, but they will require work. With the exception of those on disability, its time to do your part.
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