A December 2020 COVID-19 stimul bill provided $186 million for Mississippi in rental assistance funds. According to the Mississippi Home Corporation, the state had obligated $110.3 millions to landlords and renters who are in financial need as of January 31. The Rental Assistance for Mississippians Program, managed by the Mississippi Home Corporation (RAMP), is designed to provide rent and utilities for tenants who have been adversely affected by COVID-19. It covers households whose household incomes are less than 80% of the county’s median income. Scott Spivey (director of the Home Corporation) described the cash influx as “drinking from a firehose” last summer. But, eight months later, fewer Mississippians face foreclosure or eviction, according to the U.S. Census Bureau data. Advocates say that the program has seen significant improvements. Matthew Campbell, a NAACP field organizer, said that when we started the program, I received multiple calls per day (seeking assistance with applications).” “I don’t get as many calls anymore…which is a good thing.” Rivers Ormon, Mississippi Home Corporation’s communications officer, stated that the increase in calls is due to changes that were made months ago and that took time for them to take effect. These changes include: Many advocates pointed out the changes Campbell made to the paper application. Campbell described them as a “good faith attempt” to simplify the process and make it more accessible to all applicants. Gwen BouieHaynes, director of National Association of Social Workers Mississippi Chapter, said that applicants who filled out the paper application had difficulty getting information about their application’s status. This is due to applicants who used the paper application reaching out to the call centre for information, and sometimes getting put on hold for hours. Ormon stated that the average wait time for applicants over the past few months was between 30 and an hour and a quarter. However, a last-week change brought down the wait time to just five minutes on Friday. This change will redirect calls regarding recertification (or applying for additional funds because of continued financial hardship) to a third party contractor who handles that part of the application process. Advocates say that applicants are experiencing long wait times between payment approval and payment. Antwan Bragg is a Winston County landlord who applied for RAMP in September 2021. He was approved in November but is still waiting to receive his payment. Bragg stated that it was not the tenants’ fault. Bragg said that all of his tenants were good people, and before the pandemic, they had been punctual, took good care of the property, and they never missed work. They were initially on unemployment, but they then cut their unemployment off and that was when things started to get a little dicey. Bragg stated that he didn’t want to have to go through the hassle of evicting tenants. However, he has now informed them that he will be giving RAMP until March 31 before he starts eviction proceedings. Senior vice president of the Hope Policy Institute Diane Standaert said that she has heard similar stories about issues such as payment timeliness once applicants have been approved. Standaert stated that there are times when these situations can be resolved individually, even if they have been escalated. “We are grateful for this responsiveness. So it becomes, how can we increase that responsiveness across all the board to reduce tension?” Ormon stated that the average time between approval and payment is two weeks. However, if the account information is correct, Ormon indicated that it could take longer if a cheque is being sent. If payments take months to process, she said there may be another problem. Standaert stated that while more money is being sent to those in need, the number who are denied has increased by a third from October 2021 through January 2022. 14% of rejected applications were also reported. According to the program, 66% of RAMP applicants were employed and most are Black and female. Bouie-Haynes suggested that the program be expanded to include housing counseling agencies in order to provide more assistance to applicants. She said that she sees it through a different lens: social workers are often in the community and have the necessary skills to process applications. Ormon stated that training is ongoing for new providers. Campbell plans to use other stimulus funds to increase housing assistance infrastructure, including RAMP. This will allow Campbell to create affordable housing and eviction diversion programs. He stated that it is important that the money be used in a positive manner, making sure that households get this rental assistance aid, but that there is also another opportunity to expand this work on affordable housing with these (federal relief funds). That’s what I look forward to. It is a once-in-a-lifetime investment that can make positive and constructive changes in peoples’ lives. This requires a concerted effort by almost every government unit to meet these needs.