HUGE Raise in RENT? Do you qualify for Help?
Department of Economic Security is providing rental assistance -
Here are the qualifications
You are renting your primary residence.
You are behind on rental utilities payments, or will have trouble making these payments in the future.
You have been impacted directly or indirectly by COVID
Examples include but are not limited to:
Job loss from a COVID layoff
Needing to care for a loved one
Having trouble finding work because of the pandemic
Mental health issues as a result of the pandemic
Being impacted by rising cost of rent as a result of the pandemic
Your income is below the following:
You can apply online at https://des.az.gov/erap click "Apply for Assistance"
This is the amount that you can make to qualify
Mohave County
One Person household $34,900
Two Person household $39,850
Three Person household $44,850
Four Person household $49,800
Five Person household $53,800
Six Person household $57,800
Seven Person household 61,800
Eight Person household $65,750
"There is no way that anyone that is hit with a $500 to $800 increase in their rent isn't impacted. No matter how much money you make. Especially when you are only given one month's notice. In Arizona there are no regulations on how much rent can be increased each year. In California and other states there are." - Bo Hellams
You can read all about the rules or lack thereof on rent control in Arizona. https://ipropertymanagement.com/laws/rent-increases-fees-in-arizona
The Bee is doing an investigation about the increase in rent in the Tri-State.
The following is taken from their Facebook post
"Has your rent increased more than 10% over the last year? We want to hear from you. We've had hundreds of reports of rental rate increases of over 20-40% over the last year. Our team is planning to investigate this alarming issue the Tri-State is facing and will be finding resources and legal recommendations to protect you and your family. Please comment on this post with the city you live in, and the rental rate increases you have faced. Together we can do more to protect our local community.
- Were you given a 90 days notice of this increase to help re-adjust your budget?
- Did the landlord offer a reduced rate for a multi-year lease?
- Is the landlord making any property improvements per this increase?"
Please email your answers to these questions to info@thebee.news
If you do apply for the rental assistance. You should know that they only allow you to apply for 3 months into the future, so even though the help is up to 18 months the majority of that coverage is for back payments not future payments. This is information attained from someone that just applied for the assistance. Perhaps if you call the assistance line they may be able to help you with more than three months.
There are amazing organizations in Bullhead City like River-fund and United Way that may be able to help you with rental assistance. The last thing that anyone wants is to price anyone out of their homes, I am sure that we all understand there is inflation, however as Bo and another community member told me tonight that were both hit with these huge increases, it is just not a reasonable ask. These huge increases will price our middle class out of nice homes and neighborhoods where they were just making ends meet with lower prices as it was. Now they are being forced to make very hard decisions, many with no other rental options available in our town that is already facing a housing shortage. It puts most renters between a rock and a hard place. Unfortunately the home owners know that and can raise the rent indiscriminately.