In the coming months, two assistance programs from the pandemic era will conclude. The Federal Emergency Rental Assistance program granted the state of Utah $344 million.
Funds are expected to run out by the end of March, after $278 million has already been spent. After February 5, 2023, applications for the program will no longer be accepted. Over one hundred thousand applications have been processed so far.
Cleveland Assistance Programs
In March, food stamps, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), will end their emergency monthly increase. Each eligible household received a $175 to $200 average increase. The change will affect all 74,000 SNAP-eligible households in Utah, but nothing else about the program will alter.
Other assistance programs, such as the HEAT program for energy and water assistance, education assistance, and employment assistance, are still available to Utahns in need. For more information, those in need can contact their local community action agency or dial 211.
Meanwhile, Cleveland is one of the nation’s poorest cities. It is far from expensive coastal cities such as New York City and San Francisco, where rents are typically exorbitant. Cleveland does not fit the stereotype of a desirable place to live; since the 1950s, it has been losing its population. But since 2020, the rental market has experienced wild fluctuations. Even in many previously affordable cities, rents continue to rise, straining the budgets of more families and spreading a predominantly coastal problem to nearly every region of the country.
Read more: February 2023 stimulus payment: These states have remaining checks for eligible Americans!
Rental Costs
The median annual percentage increase in the Zillow Observed Rent Index for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States, broken down by census region.
According to Julie Wisneski, even as the pandemic enters its maintenance phase, families in Cleveland are still falling ill, struggling financially, and seeking assistance to find affordable housing and pay their rents
In the years leading up to the pandemic, rents increased by approximately 4 percent annually on average, according to Zillow data from 2015 for the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States.
Read more: Abortion pills to be sold by Walgreens, CVS at US pharmacies amid Roe v Wade crackdown
