SPANISH FORT — Baldwin County has received more money to help renters and landlords affected by COVID-19, and program officials say they hope to extend the program beyond its 2022 deadline.
The Emergency Renters Assistance Program, known as ERAP, first received $6.6 million to help people affected by the economic downturn, Cian Harrison, Baldwin County clerk-treasurer, said. Assistance is available for both renters and property owners.
As of March 18, more than $5.27 million had been distributed to 1,038 applicants, Katrina Taylor, county grants coordinator, said.
The County Commission had planned to end the program in 2022, but the federal government has now announced that more money will be available, Harrison said.
"There was a deadline, and we were going to take the applicants' applications up through June and then the end date was in September of 2022," Harrison said. "However, since then, they released the second batch of money and all the guidelines have changed and the program actually goes out to 2025. So, we're going to be taking before the commission at the next commission meeting a discussion topic on having that extended from the time period that they originally had approved."

The commission is scheduled to meet April 4.
The ERAP program is operating in space provided by the food bank, Prodisee Pantry in Spanish Fort.
Deann Servos, chairwoman of Baldwin County Volunteer Organizations Active in Disaster, which works with the county on the ERAP program, said staff members are continuing to help people affected by the pandemic.
"Our case managers are here. They're taking emails, answering the phone, getting applications processed as quickly as possible. So, if there's someone out there who is seeking emergency rental assistance, they need to give us a call," Servos said. "We're still receiving applications and processing them as quickly as possible and if someone needs to reach us, if they're having trouble with the online application or they need to have a face to face, our case managers can assist them with the process."
People needing help can apply at the county ERAP website – baldwincountyal.gov/erap.
The program is available for tenants in a rental unit in Baldwin County where the household has lost income or experienced other costs due to COVID-19 and are at risk of losing their home, according to the website.
Anyone with questions about the program can also call 251-239-4360 or email ERAP.info@baldwincountyal.gov.
Taylor said the county is still receiving applications, but fewer people are seeking help than at the height of the pandemic.
"We have definitely had less participation now," she said. "The daily submittals that we received, they have dropped a lot. Also, on top of that, a lot of the cases we're seeing are fraudulent. So that has also increased, but I definitely think that the need is still there. It's not as big as 2020 or 2021. But we definitely do have some residents that still need this assistance."
Harrison said that early in the program, renters and landlords had been behind on rent for several months by the time money was available. Many of those applicants have now had their cases processed.
"Part of the reason we're seeing that, we believe, is because when this program first started, they could retroactively get back April 1, 2020, and retroactively be paid for their rent," Harrison said. "So, at this point, all that's been caught up and say what we're seeing is they can only go forward three months, up to a certain amount, 15 months. That is the max."
Taylor said fraudulent claims continue to be an issue across the country.
"Treasury actually has come out with guidance as well for reporting them because it has been every single program is seeing it," Taylor said.
Harrison said the guidelines have helped local program administrators sort out fraudulent claims from those by people with actual needs.
"It's not specific to Baldwin County, it's just something that happens throughout this program, and we're catching it on the front end," she said. "We're not having any trouble with it at all. It's just I think it's just, it's part of the process, unfortunately."
She said no applicants have been penalized for claims that were not found to be valid.
"We just say if they don't, they don't meet the requirements of the program and nothing goes through," she said. "There's no penalty or anything. We were able to catch that one on the front end before any funds even before anything's even approved."