Online COVID 19 Rental Counseling (New Jersey Only)

On Friday, May 29, 2020 Governor Phil Murphy and Lt Governor Sheila Y. Oliver announced the COVID-19 Short-Term Rental Assistance Program. The program will provide rental assistance to low- and moderate-income households that have had a substantial reduction in income as a result of the pandemic, including those who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.

The COVID-19 Short Term Rental Assistance Program will provide temporary rental assistance to low- and moderate- income households that have had a substantial reduction in income or have become unemployed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program will offer an initial three months of temporary rental assistance, with the ability for the household to renew for an additional three months if needed. Approximately 20 percent of the rental assistance funds will be reserved for homeless families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The program will open for applications in July and begin paying rental assistance in September. Qualifying households will be expected to pay 30 percent of their income toward rent, and the program would pay the remainder of their rent up to DCA’s fair market rent payment standard. At the three-month mark, the household budget will be reviewed to determine if assistance is still needed. Assistance that is no longer required will be used to serve additional families.

DCA will select applicants for short-term rental assistance through a randomized lottery process. 

Further information on how to apply and Frequently Asked Questions, will be available on June 15th, and applications will be taken in July.

To submit an application, you must:

• Be a resident of New Jersey
• Have a current income that is at or below 80 percent of Area Median Income for your county 
• Have been current in your rent payments as of March 1, 2020
• Show that your income was affected by the COVID-19 pandemic beginning on March 9th when the public emergency was declared. You can show this by documenting:

1. A layoff
2. Reduced work hours
3. Unpaid leave to take care of children due to school and daycare closures
4. Need to self-quarantine for 14 days resulted in a loss of income

Governor Murphy signed Executive Order # 128 which allows renters to direct that their Landlords apply the security deposit the renters own to any past due and current rent obligations as a result of the “Stay at Home” order.  This communications has to be made in writing (including email).  We have recommended language below.  

Yes you CAN direct your landlord to use your Security Deposit to pay your rent

This is NOT free money.  The tenant will be required to replenish or reestablish (pay back) the security deposit if the lease is extended, or 6 months after the emergency order is lifted.   

Further, this order does not relieve the tenant from paying for any money that the landlord would recoup from the rental deposit at the end of the lease for damages beyond the normal “wear and tear”.  

However, it will stop the late fees that the landlord is charging you when you can’t work and are waiting for unemployment.  

Suggested wording of a request to use the security deposit to pay your rent:

Dear Landlord;

NJ governor Phil Murphy signed Executive Order # 128 on April 24, 2020 allowing for the following request. I hereby request that the security deposit you are holding on my behalf which is governed by the provisions of N.J.S.A. 46:8-19 et seq., as well as the interest portion of the interest and/or earnings accumulated thereon, be applied to or credited towards rent payments due or to become due from the tenant during the Public Health Emergency established in Executive Order No. 103 (2020) or up to 60 days after the Public Health Emergency terminates.

In other words, the security deposit you are holding for me should be used to pay my past due, current and any future rent until it is exhausted.

I understand that I will be required to pay back the security deposit in full in six months following the end of the Emergency or when I renew the lease.  

Please send me an accounting of the amount of funds in my rental deposit account including accrued interest, and how you are applying it to my rent.

Thank you,