If Missouri doesn’t spend its federal rental and utility assistance money it could lose it

Jill McCormick shook her head and lifted her eyes to the ceiling. “What is the hold up for getting that money directly to [tenants]?” McCormick, a tenant advocate with the nonprofit Action St. Louis, asked St. Louis’ new director of human services, Yusef Scoggin, at a community meeting Tuesday. The city has received more applications for rental and utility assistance than it can fund, Scoggin said, and is struggling with a four- to six-week turnaround on those applications. Meanwhile, in St. Louis County the turnaround time is only about eight to 10 days. And compared to the city, which has spent 57% of the rental assistance money it’s received from federal COVID relief legislation, the county has spent 71%, as of Sept. 30. To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below: https://missouriindependent.com/2021/10/29/if-missouri-doesnt-spend-its-federal-rental-and-utility-assistance-money-it-could-lose-it/