State agency turns over $80 million in unspent rental assistance funds to metro Atlanta counties with thousands of applicants

By Sean Keenan for Atlanta Civic Circle

The Georgia Department of Community Affairs (DCA) has released $80.6 million in federal rental assistance funds to five metro Atlanta counties — Fulton, DeKalb, Henry, Clayton, and Hall — that have already spent their own federal funds to help tenants facing eviction, with thousands more seeking aid.

Fulton County announced Feb. 10 that it had received $25 million from the DCA and was making it available to applicants struggling to cover rent and utilities amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

Fulton’s announcement indicates that a portion of the almost $1 billion the DCA received in federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) cash last year is on its way to metro Atlanta counties with far better track records of getting the emergency rental aid to those in need.

The U.S. Treasury Department approved the transfer to the county eviction-prevention programs in January, with $25 million apiece going to Fulton and DeKalb, $15 million to Henry, $9 million to Clayton, and $6.6 million to Hall counties.

Many renters and landlords “still need help, even two years after the pandemic began,” Fulton County Chairman Robb Pitts said in the announcement. “While the economy has made a strong recovery, there are still many in our community who have been left behind.”

The DCA received nearly $1 billion in two rounds of federal ERA funding last year — $552.3 million in ERA1 and $437 million in ERA2 — to administer Georgia’s statewide eviction-prevention program. The Treasury Department disbursed an additional $157.9 million to some of the state’s most populous counties and cities.

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