Arlington Board Accepts COVID-19 Funding For Housing

ARLINGTON, VA — The Arlington County Board accepted $450,000 in state funding to help residents who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic pay their rent or mortgage.

“This funding can be a lifeline for many Arlingtonians who lost their jobs months ago and have not yet seen those jobs come back,” County Board Chair Libby Garvey said. “This funding is an acknowledgement by the state that people need help if we are going to avoid a wave of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months.”

The funding is retroactive to March 1, 2020 and will extend through the end of 2020. The county is distributing the funding now, through the Department of Human Services. Any Arlington resident who believes they may qualify should call DHS at 703-228-1300 for more information.

The board also approved several other COVID-19 pandemic-related federal and state grants, including:

• A seven-month grant from the Virginia Employment Commission to provide employment services both to Arlington and Alexandria residents who have been recently laid off and to employers looking to hire. ($109,155).
• A state grant that will provide the Alexandria/Arlington Regional Workforce Council with six months of funding for layoff aversion strategies and activities to prevent or shorten the duration of unemployment caused by the pandemic. ($87,619).
• A federal grant to fund more Housing Choice Vouchers (Section 8) in response to the increased need caused by the pandemic. The funding will support 12 more vouchers for persons with disabilities who are non-elderly and at risk of homelessness, already homeless or transitioning from an institutional setting due to the pandemic. ($155,323).
• Department of Justice funding to reimburse county money spent on public safety equipment, supplies and activities in response to the pandemic, including overtime. ($136,727).