City of Little Rock To Open Housing Grant Program For Low-Income Families

Low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled in Little Rock, Arkansas will be able to get assistance from the Housing Choice Voucher Program. This is great news for so many during the COVID-19 pandemic. Increasingly high unemployment combined with lockdowns that have stymied businesses and their employees has resulted in increased financial strains. Even previous to the emergence of this pandemic, many Americans had been living paycheck to paycheck, and things have gotten worse, especially for low-income families already on government assistance.

With the passing of the CARES Act, states and government agencies were given funding that could be distributed to cities and municipalities that needed it the most. The Little Rock Housing Authority, in Little Rock, Arkansas, has opened up a program to help people who are already assisted by Housing Choice vouchers (HCV) or mainstream vouchers due to housing insecurity, prepare for and deal with housing issues related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Housing Vouchers Funds Awarded to Help Arkansans

Here’s how the numbers worked out: 61 housing authorities in Arkansas alone have received a total of $7,318,024, with Little Rock Housing Authority being awarded $791,296 in housing vouchers for low-income families.

U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary, Ben Carson spoke on the awarding of these funds (which totaled $472 million across the country):

This funding will provide additional resources to public housing authorities to make sure people have a decent, safe, and affordable place to call home, HUD continues to work with our public housing authorities to protect American families from this invisible enemy, including vulnerable residents in the Housing Choice Voucher Program. “

According to the HUD website

The housing choice voucher program is the federal government’s major program for assisting very low-income families, the elderly, and the disabled to afford decent, safe, and sanitary housing in the private market. Since housing assistance is provided on behalf of the family or individual, participants are able to find their own housing, including single-family homes, townhouses and apartments”.

This means that residents of Arkansas (and especially those in Little Rock that are being serviced by this program) will be able to better deal with the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic as it related to housing without putting themselves at risk of housing insecurity. This Housing Choice Voucher includes the mainstream program as well.

Little Rock Housing Choice Voucher Residents Can Now Breath Easier During This Pandemic

The tenants of this assistance will go beyond just rental assistance but will also include things like cleaning supplies and other necessary items needed to ensure that homes are safe and tenable throughout this pandemic.

Nonprofit organizations can find grants for the housing insecure in the housing category on GrantWatch.com