Baldwin County officials have removed the private contractor overseeing the county’s federal rental assistance program after months of sluggish progress in getting emergency aid to residents facing eviction, shifting the work instead to a coalition of local nonprofit organizations.
The county was awarded $6.6 million in January through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), created under the CARES Act to help renters who fell behind on payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. By August, however, the county had distributed only about $550,000 of that money to just 83 of more than 1,400 applicants who had sought help.
The program had been administered by Hagerty Consulting, a firm the county brought on the previous year to manage other pandemic relief funding as well as recovery efforts following Hurricane Sally. Last week, the Baldwin County Commission voted to end Hagerty’s role in the rental assistance program and hand the work to a network of local nonprofits already active in disaster recovery.
County spokesperson Sherry-Lea Bloodworth Botop said the pace of approvals has picked up since August, with 169 applications approved as of Sept. 10 for a combined $1,104,229 in assistance. Even so, records show Hagerty was paid at least $202,733 for its work on the program, equal to roughly $1,199 for every approved application, or about 18 percent of the total funds the county has awarded so far.
Bloodworth Botop said the consulting contract had been set to expire at the end of September regardless, and that the county had already been easing into a new arrangement. “The county has been in the transition process from a private consultant to working with local nonprofits to provide case management to citizens who apply for this program with processing and compliance being handled in-house,” she said.
County officials plan to launch a new website and phone number for the program and notify all 1,758 people who have applied about the change in how their cases will be handled. The commission has said it hopes the new setup will make the application process less cumbersome for residents who have struggled with the paperwork and technology requirements.
Dana Jepsen of Ecumenical Ministries is helping coordinate the transition on behalf of Baldwin County Voluntary Organizations Active in Disasters, known as VOAD, a network of nonprofits that has handled disaster case management in the county for years.
“We’re really hoping that the transition will be fairly seamless,” Jepsen said. “We have been doing rental assistance in the county for a year with private funding. We’re very familiar with case management because we do it outside of disaster, and we’re social service agencies that serve the county year-round. It kind of made sense for us to take on the application process for ERAP as well.”
Jason Fisher, chairman of the Baldwin County Democratic Party, welcomed the change. Fisher said he has helped constituents work through the ERAP application process and had grown frustrated with how difficult it was for many applicants to navigate.
“I can tell you there are numerous administrative hurdles to jump over as well as technology and logistical challenges that likely have had the effect of causing many folks to be confused and give up during the application process,” Fisher said. “Anything that can be done to cut the red tape, make it easier for applicants to submit their information, and disperse the money more quickly is greatly needed.”
Fisher also argued that the county has not done enough to publicize the program’s existence, pointing to neighboring Mobile County as a contrast. Mobile County has already spent about 90 percent of its initial $13.1 million in ERAP funding and has since received a second allotment of more than $9 million.
“The second concern seems to be a lack of knowledge that this program exists,” he said. “It is critical that all communities across Baldwin County be included in the stakeholders’ group to ensure that every eligible person, no matter their race, gender, or ethnicity, hears about this program and gains rental assistance provided they qualify according to the basic standards to receive relief.”
Renters who believe they may qualify for assistance are expected to be notified of the new application process and point of contact as the transition takes effect. County officials say the goal of moving the work in-house and to local nonprofit partners is to get remaining federal dollars into the hands of eligible households more quickly, with fewer of the delays that have slowed the program since it launched.