LA County Mortgage Relief Partnership

CONSUMER AND BUSINESS AFFAIRS

County Spending Category
2.4 Stable Housing
Federal Expenditure Category
Household Assistance: Rent, Mortgage, and Utility Aid
Project Launch Date
06/21/2022
Anticipated End Date
12/31/2024
Interpretation Languages
  • Spanish
  • Armenian
  • Cambodian (Khmer)
  • Farsi
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Tagalog/Filipino
  • Thai
  • Mandarin
  • Cantonese
  • Vietnamese
  • Arabic
  • Hindi
  • Japanese
  • ASL
Written Languages
  • Spanish
  • Armenian
  • Cambodian (Khmer)
  • Farsi
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Tagalog/Filipino
  • Thai
  • Traditional Chinese
  • Simplified Chinese
  • Vietnamese
  • Arabic
  • Hindi
  • Japanese
  • ASL

Project Contacts

Indicators & Metrics to Date

  • Number of Grants Provided
    204
  • Number of Grants Provided
    168
  • Number of Households Served
    372
  • Execute subrecipient agreement with TPA
    1
  • Program will be promoted in multiple languages to most in need communities
    1
  • Launch grant application
    1
  • # of applications reviewed
    372
  • Total Number of Grants Disbursed
    204
  • Total dollar amount of grants disbursed
    4000000
  • Project Evaluation Completed
    0
  • Number of Grants Provided
    168
  • Total dollar amount of grants disbursed
    2700000

Target Populations

  • Small Businesses
  • People with Disabilities
  • Systems Impacted Individuals
  • Systems Involved Individuals
  • Individuals Experiencing Mental Health Disorders
  • Individuals Experiencing Substance Use Disorders
  • Property owners with tenants who reside in moderate, highest and high need census tracts of the County as identified by the COVID-19 Vulnerability and Recovery Index.

Project Description

According to a January 2021 report by the California Legislature’s Nonpartisan Fiscal and Policy Advisor, even before the pandemic, the high-cost of housing in California placed renter households in a perilous situation specifically the 1.5 million low-income households who paid at least half of their income towards their housing. A sudden job loss would have immediately placed these tenants on a path towards eviction. Which was exactly what occurred at the onset of the pandemic. Almost immediately, approximately 2.6 million Californians and 22 million people nationwide lost their employment, Unfortunately, job losses were highly concentrated among lower wage workers who were much more likely to rent than higher wage workers. As such, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the affordable housing and eviction crisis that was being experienced across the region. Justifiably, many feared that a vast number of these households would fall behind on their rent or mortgage which would lead to a tsunami of evictions and foreclosures. In order to protect vulnerable tenants experiencing financial hardships due to the pandemic, the County passed eviction moratoriums to mitigate their displacement and further harm. Although, financial relief programs were launched many landlords and tenants, specifically those from disadvantaged communities had difficulty accessing funds. This program intends to fill that gap. The Department of Consumer and Business Affairs (DCBA) Mortgage Relief Project provides financial relief to property owners to alleviate their tenant’s COVID-19 rental and utilities debt, and, more specifically, for those tenants residing in historically underserved and vulnerable communities in the County of Los Angeles (County). The program will alleviate negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic by both providing direct financial relief to address rental/utilities debt for disproportionately COVID-19 impacted tenants to avoid homelessness and by providing property owners with financial relief cause by the tenant’s inability to pay. DCBA will partner with a community-based organization who will provide grant administration and award rental assistance grants up to $30,000 per eligible property owner. Grants can be used to cover the property owner’s tenant as it relates to: 1. Delinquent/outstanding rent payments; and 2. Loss of utilities or home energy services (e.g., electricity, gas, water and sewer, trash removal, and energy costs, such as fuel oil). Additionally, this project will also fund administrative and staff costs to develop and implement this project since August of 2021.

Goals & Objectives

Goal Description Provide access to financial assistance to at least 133 mortgage landlords to eliminate the outstanding/current COVID-19 related rental/utilities debts for at minimum 133 highest/high need renters in the County by December 31, 2024.

Objective Description Disburse $4,000,000 in grant funding to mortgage landlords to alleviate their tenant’s COVID-19 related rental/utilities debt by December 31, 2024. 100% of the funding must benefit tenants residing in moderate, highest, and high-need census tracts, as identified by the COVID Recovery Index

Activity Description By September 30, 2022, DCBA will contract with a third-party administrator to implement the project. The third-party administrator will, in collaboration with DCBA, design the grant application, full eligibility criteria, application guidance in multiple languages (in at minimum Spanish) 
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
4 Performance Execute subrecipient agreement with TPA 1.00 1.00

Activity Description By October 15, 2022, The Third-Party Administrator, in collaboration with DCBA, will begin promotion of the grant opportunity to most in-need communities, in multiple language (at minimum Spanish) as identified via the COVID-19 vulnerability index. This project will leverage the Ethnic and Hyper Local Media ARP, as needed.
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
5 Program Outcome Program will be promoted in multiple languages to most in need communities 1.00 1.00

Activity Description By October 31, 2022, The Third-Party Administrator will launch the grant application to begin accepting applications from qualified applicants.
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
6 Service Delivery Launch grant application 1.00 1.00

Activity Description By November 30, 2022, the Third-Party Administrator will begin the application review and selection of awardees. This activity will be ongoing until funds are exhausted.
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
7 Performance # of applications reviewed 1.00 133.00

Activity Description By December 31, 2024 the Third-Party Administrator will have disbursed all grant funding ($4,000,000) to a minimum of 133 grantees (if all grantees receive the maximum amount of grant).
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
8 Service Delivery Number of Grants Provided 1.00 133.00
22 Service Delivery Total dollar amount of grants disbursed 0.00 4000000.00

Activity Description By March 31, 2025, DCBA will conduct an internal project evaluation
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
12 Program Outcome Project Evaluation Completed 0.00 1.00

Outcome Description Disburse a minimum of 133 grants to landlords to eliminate the outstanding/current COVID-19 related rental/utilities debts of their tenants
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
9 Performance Total Number of Grants Disbursed 0.00 133.00
22 Service Delivery Total dollar amount of grants disbursed 0.00 4000000.00

Goal Description Provide access to financial assistance to at least 90 non-mortgage landlords to eliminate the outstanding/current COVID-19 related rental/utilities debts for at minimum 90 highest/high need renters in the County by December 31, 2024.

Objective Description Disburse $2,700,000 in grant funding to non-mortgage landlords to alleviate their tenant’s COVID-19 related rental/utilities debt by December 31, 2024. 100% of the funding must benefit tenants residing in moderate, highest, and high-need census tracts, as identified by the COVID Recovery Index

Activity Description By December 31, 2024 the Third-Party Administrator will have disbursed all grant funding ($2,700,000) to a minimum of 90 grantees (if all grantees receive the maximum amount of grant).
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
1 Service Delivery Number of Grants Provided 0.00 90.00

Outcome Description 100% of the grant funding is awarded to landlords to eliminate the COVID-19 rental/debts of renters in highest and high census tracts as identified by the COVID-19 Vulnerability and Recovery Index
Indicators
# Type Name Baseline Target
1 Program Outcome Total dollar amount of grants disbursed 0.00 2700000.00
1 Program Outcome Number of Grants Provided 0.00 90.00