NEWS BRIEF: Backlog, denial of emergency rent aid applications called “outrageous”
DCA is ‘dysfunctional and mismanaged’
Photo credit: Courtesy State of GA Dept of Community Affairs
The Georgia Department of Community Affairs has processed only 16,000 Emergency Rental Assistance applications out of nearly 50,000 received as of early December. That is less than one-third of the total; just 54 percent of requests for federal emergency funds were approved, according to public records. Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America CEO Bruce Marks said it’s “outrageous” that the DCA is rejecting almost half the submitted applications, adding that the Georgia group “stands out as an outlier that is completely dysfunctional and mismanaged.” The DCA is already taking heat for its slow rollout of the $552 million federal program and is now being asked to explain why so many applicants are being denied. atlantaciviccircle.org