The last piece of mail that Dulunzo Johnson got at his last apartment in North Little Rock was a letter from Pulaski County denying his request for assistance paying rent, he said.
Johnson has since been evicted and is staying with a relative. He said his previous landlord planned to reject any rental assistance Johnson received from Pulaski County, but the denial letter indicated that the landlord was expected to fill out paperwork he did not have.
"They said my application was denied because they didn't receive anything from [the landlord], but he said he didn't receive anything from them," Johnson said.
Johnson is one of several tenants who has had trouble accessing Pulaski County's rental relief program, which aims to distribute $10.6 million in federal funds to tenants behind on rent as a result of the ongoing covid-19 pandemic.
"I have some friends that have been on the [waiting] list for three months, and they're wondering how I got answered so quickly," said Johnson, who submitted his application three weeks ago.
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Pulaski County received $11.7 million from the federal government earlier this year and allocated 10% of the money for the costs of administering the program. As of Sept. 17, the county had given out more than half of the remaining funds, or $5.3 million. Since April, 11,640 households have received funds out of the 16,999 households that have applied, according to county data.
Currently, 1,305 applications are being reviewed, 3,023 are ready to be reviewed and 1,031 have been denied, according to the data.
The program covers past-due rent dating back to April 1, 2020. It also can cover missed utility payments and up to three months of future rent. Applicants who have received an eviction notice, are unemployed or make 50% or less of the area median income are the program's highest priorities, according to the Pulaski County website.
Arkansas' other two most populous counties, Benton and Washington, also have their own rental assistance programs. Both have distributed most or all of the funds they received from the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act.
Pulaski County's program is about 45 days behind in processing applications, said Fred Love, the Pulaski County director of community services.
The Arkansas Department of Human Services received $173 million to distribute assistance to the state's remaining 72 counties. The state faced pressure earlier this month to loosen some of the application requirements after it had only given out $7.2 million by the end of August and faced a backlog of more than 8,000 applications.
Following a letter from U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., the House majority whip, the Department of Human Services lifted the requirement for landlords to submit a matching rent relief application for each tenant who applies. The department still accepts landlords' applications but has given money to tenants without them as of Sept. 8.
Love, who is also a Democratic state representative, said the county's rent relief program also distributes money if the landlord does not submit a matching application.
"Landlords are usually willing to work with us, [though] not every landlord does," Love said. "The remedy is that we can co-issue a check [to the landlord and tenant], or if they relocate, we can provide that person with three months of advance rent so their housing situation is stable. What we don't want is for people to be unhoused."
Tenants like Johnson say their experiences don't match Love's description of the program.
Shonika Jackson of Little Rock said she received a letter from the county about two weeks ago denying her rental assistance application because her property manager did not submit a matching application.
"I originally sent the application two months ago," Jackson said. "When [someone from the county] responded she said they were backed up and if I could get it done that day, she'd send it through for approval."
The property manager still refused to fill out an application, Jackson said.
Nichole McClinton, a Little Rock mother of two, said she applied for assistance in June and her landlord submitted a matching application. However, she has not heard from the county about the status of her application, she said.
"You can't get anybody to answer [the phone]," McClinton said. "Last time I did get somebody to answer, they said they were backed up. They had so many applications they can't get everyone at once."
Some renters have trouble filling out the application to begin with because of a lack of technological skills or access, Arkansas Renters United organizer Malik Marshall said.
Tremayne Cain of Little Rock and Gary Harper of North Little Rock both said they sought help filling out their applications online.
Cain said he struggles with reading and writing, but he had a neighbor who he trusted to help him navigate the application. He recently moved and lost touch with that person, and the county has not provided him with the same help, he said.
"They're not helping people like they're supposed to," Cain said. "They're making things difficult and it could be a lot easier if we all just worked together."
Harper does not have a computer, and his former apartment manager got a new job and did not finish helping him apply for rental assistance, he said. He agreed with Cain that the system should be easier to navigate, and he said he has seen several people in the area evicted from their homes in the past few weeks.
"[Landlords] are evicting people faster than they can get the paperwork in," Harper said.
Love said the county is trying to help as many tenants as possible, and he insisted that landlords' refusal to participate in the application process does not stop the program from distributing funds. However, the county cannot control whether a landlord accepts that money, he said.
"A client can say their landlord is not participating and we can co-issue the check, but if the landlord then rejects it, that's a different situation," Love said.