NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Housing Development Agency opened an online portal for those wanting to apply for rent and utility assistance during the pandemic.
“The pandemic has had a tremendous impact on the livelih oods of countless Tennesseans,” THDA Executive Director Ralph M. Perrey said. “This program is designed to help people stay in their homes by covering eligible rent and/or utility costs they are unable to pay due to the challenges presented by COVID-19.”
In order to apply, residents must have experienced financial hardships due to the pandemic and earn less than 80 percent of the median income for their county. Perry says they think they can help 25,000 to 30,000 households.
Those numbers can be found in the link below.
Tennesseans living in Davidson, Knox, Rutherford and Shelby counties cannot apply for this money via the portal. They will have to call their local governments for further information. For Shelby County, that information can be found here.
Perrey says larger jurisdictions like Memphis and Shelby County had the opportunity to run the program themselves.
Sign-ups for utility assistance for people in Shelby County are at a different site.
We expect to hear more about that program later in the week. Click here for commonly asked questions for residents who live in Shelby County.
