FAQ Series: What percentage of tenants were able to apply (and receive) rental assistance? What best practices have you used to enable tenants to obtain assistance?

As part of our efforts to provide valuable resources to our customers, we regularly share information that we have researched that can be of use to landlords and property managers.  This week we are featuring information that may be of value to your tenants (and therefore may be beneficial to you as well).

Question: What percentage of tenants were able to apply (and receive) rental assistance?  What best practices have you used to enable tenants to obtain assistance?

Answer:   

This response was submitted by Spina & Co, a property management company…

“Approximately 35 of our tenants applied for rental assistance.  The vast majority applied through PHL Rental Assistance Phase IV, but some received assistance from other quasi-government agencies or church groups, or other social services providers.  

We found that the best practice was to repeatedly encourage our tenants to apply.  For anyone who needed assistance to schedule a phone appointment for us to fill out the forms over the phone together.  

 We have at least one weekly meeting to receive updates on the status of the forms, payments, and circumstances for each of the tenants who applied.  While it has its own hiccups and hurdles, we have been very pleased with all phases of the PHL Rental Assistance program.”

The link to the Phase IV assistance program is below:

https://phlrentassist.org/about-phase-4/

The full list of our property manager network is available via the link below:

 https://www.leadtestingservicesphila.com/find-property-managers