St. Louis County continues to give out millions in rental assistance

Over 450 applications for aid are from South County

October 6, 2021

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page, right, and his wife, Jennifer, head to the polls Tuesday morning in Creve Coeur to vote for Page in the Democratic primary. Jennifer Page was dressed in scrubs to head to her job at Mercy Hospital South.

St. Louis County is ahead of schedule in awarding Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds to landlords and tenants.

County Executive Sam Page announced Sept. 30 the county has given out $18 million of the $26.6 million total — around $700,000 more than was needed to keep the funds by Sept. 30. The county must award the rest of the money by the end of the year to receive a second round of funding equal to $29 million.

ERAP began in April in an effort to “provide back rent and temporary rental assistance to low and moderate-income households that have had a loss of income, have qualified for unemployment benefits, faced significant costs, or experienced financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Page said the money awarded so far has been given to 3,146 households and 10,493 applications for $45 million have been received. He highlighted a disparity in which areas sent in the most applications.

“This pandemic highlighted the great disparities in our county in almost every facet of life. The rental assistance program has highlighted disparities in housing stability in St. Louis County,” Page said.

As of Sept. 29, residents in the 1st District had sent in the most applications, at 3,971, compared to 139 from 7th District, which is the least in the county.

In the 6th District, 457 applications had been received as of Sept. 29, with 196 applications from the 63123 zipcode, which includes Affton and Green Park, followed by 173 from the 63125 zipcode, which is primarily Lemay, and 115 from 63129, which covers Oakville.

Only seven applications were submitted from 63127, which is predominatly Sunset Hills. Twenty-seven applications were received from 63126, which is mostly Crestwood, and 40 applications were submitted from 63128, which is predominatly Concord and Sappington.

The county received $193 million from the American Rescue Plan Act earlier this year, and Page said he expects part of that money to go toward housing stability once the County Council allocates it.

To learn more about ERAP funds, visit https://stlouisco.onlinepha.com or call 314-806-0910.