Phoenix City Council Approves $2 Million To Fund The Project Assist Program

Press release from the City of Phoenix:

December 23, 2020

On Dec. 8, 2020, the Phoenix City Council approved additional funding of $2 million to be directed to the Project Assist program, offering financial support for residents with delinquent City Services bills during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Residential customers with delinquent accounts are currently being identified through the City Services billing system. Those who may be eligible for funding include: residential account holders who have missed multiple monthly payments within the last 18 months; customers that have made multiple monthly partial payments to a single account throughout the past 18 months; or those who have signed up for deferred payment arrangements due to the pandemic.

Staff in the City's Customer Services Center are continuing outreach efforts to delinquent residential customers to request authorization to apply funds on their behalf. Accounts with any documented tampering or theft of services are ineligible.

Project Assist is a City of Phoenix program, administered by the Human Services Department, that provides financial assistance to low-income households experiencing crisis in order to resolve their past due City Services bills (water, trash and sewer).

Project Assist is funded through the Water Services Department and donations from water customers. Customers who are interested in donating to the fund can do so at the time of payment, either online or by mail.

For those needing additional assistance, including rent, mortgage and utility assistance, are encouraged to visit phoenix.gov/resources. Additional information, including COVID-19 testing locations and city impacted services, are available at phoenix.gov.

This press release was produced by the City of Phoenix. The views expressed here are the author’s own.