City of San Diego Emergency Rental Assistance Update

Currently, the program is prioritizing and processing applicants with past-due rent, income below 50 percent of San Diego’s Area Median Income (AMI), a household member who has been unemployed for 90 days, or a received eviction notice or summons. Households that need assistance with future rent but do not have rental arrears or an eviction notice fall within the lowest priority level and are currently waiting for assistance. San Diego Housing Commission (SDHC) staff are emailing tenants and copying landlords biweekly to confirm that their applications remain active and will be reviewed based on priorities and available funding.

Landlords can access the status of applications through the application portal at covidassistance.sdhc.org. Landlords who have not registered for the application portal can check the status of an application online at covidassistance.sdhc.org/ApplicationStatus or by calling 619-535-6921.

Under current funding regulations, SDHC cannot close the application portal or decline applicants due to a lack of funding unless or until the state has confirmed there are no additional funds for reallocation to SDHC. SDHC continues to work with the Mayor’s office to request additional funding for the program to help more qualifying households. SDHC submitted a formal request for more funds to the U.S. Department of the Treasury on October 29, 2021, and is awaiting a response.

If the program remains oversubscribed, it will not be able to provide assistance payments for every household that may qualify for help. Currently, this will primarily affect applicants who are past-due with rent, but do not have an eviction notice and have a household income between 50 percent and 80 percent of AMI. This also affects households that are current with their rent and are asking for help with past-due utilities and/or upcoming or “prospective” rent.

SDHC continues to review applications and issue payments as quickly as possible. To date, they have made payments totaling more than $137.1 million to help 14,055 households with low income. The program continues to receive additional applications each day.