Osceola County opens new round of housing assistance today, July 6, at 8am

Beginning today, Monday July 6, at 8am Osceola County will continue taking applications for another round of housing assistance to help those who have been negatively affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

Applications for Monday’s round of rental assistance and mortgage foreclosure prevention will be open for three days using CDBG Grant funding only available to residents of unincorporated Osceola County impacted by the Coronavirus. (NOTE: The next round of housing assistance will tap into $13.2 million of CARES Act funding and will be open to ALL Osceola residents, INCLUDING the cities of Kissimmee and St. Cloud.)

Residents can visit Housing.Osceola.org to find videos in English and Spanish that explain the program and application process. Residents will have three days to submit their applications beginning at 8 a.m. on Monday, July 6, through 8 a.m. on Thursday, July 9.

After the three-day application period, each application will be assigned a “lottery” number and selected through a random, computer-generated process. Selected applications will be processed accordingly until this round of funding has been exhausted. Applicants will still need to meet certain criteria to be eligible.

With this assistance, the County will pay two months of rent or mortgage payments, up to a maximum of $2,500 per household. About $940,000 will be available to applicants in this upcoming round.

“It is important to offer our hard-working residents assistance during this pandemic. They need help to keep a roof over their heads, help to keep food in their pantries and help to protect their livelihoods,” said Osceola Commission Chairwoman Viviana Janer.

Registration for housing assistance can be found at Housing.Osceola.Org

The subsequent round of assistance is scheduled for Aug. 3 and will be open to all residents including those who live in St. Cloud and Kissimmee.

The County is using $3.2 million of its CARES Act allocation for an Emergency Economic Relief Grant Program, which is taking applications at www.weveopenedsafely.com. Businesses within the cities of St. Cloud and Kissimmee are eligible to apply.