Unqork Empowers Local Agencies to Manage and Distribute Federal COVID Rent Relief Funds

Unqork Rent Relief: A turnkey solution to help state and local agencies manage the billions in federal aid for rental assistance from the American Rescue Plan.

On December 27, 2020, the $900 billion COVID-19 relief stimulus bill became law. The stimulus package includes $25 billion of emergency rent and utility-expense relief for families who might otherwise face eviction or a winter without heat and running water. The relief funds will be delivered to the States and eligible cities and counties as grants through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) which requires participating jurisdictions to provide ongoing certification of eligibility and other compliance requirements for the life of the program and beyond. These funds were enhanced by an additional $30 billion from the American Rescue Plan (ARP) passed in mid-March 2021 of which $20 billion are allocated for rental assistance, $5 billion for homeless assistance, and $5 billion for Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP).

Unqork Rent Relief empowers public agencies to effectively manage and distribute these funds at scale in compliance with all ERAP requirements. It enables agencies to orchestrate automated end-to-end workflows from pre-screening to award determination and close out. Unqork Rent Relief includes the ability to integrate with local databases and configure digital experiences for all relevant stakeholders (renters, landlords, administrators, as well as housing specialists and program auditors). Since it’s built with Unqork’s enterprise no-code platform, the application can be rapidly tailored to meet local requirements and circumstances—all without writing a single line of code.

Key Elements

• Tailored digital portals for all relevant stakeholders including renters, landlords, program administrators, and auditors 

• Seamless integrations with existing databases and systems, as well as third-party applications for identity validation, payment processing, and other services 

• Automated validations to prevent fraud and duplication of benefits

• Advanced workflow orchestration to maximize efficiency for renters, landlords, and program administrators

• Robust document management and retention 

• Enterprise-grade security standards for protecting sensitive data.

• No-code flexibility to accommodate federal and local requirements, as well as future changes to the program (e.g., extensions, eligibility adjustments, additional funding, etc.)

• Full auditability including detailed digital trails 

• Enhanced operational visibility including KPIs, reporting, and analytics

Watch the brief demo above to see the renter’s journey from automated eligibility checks to application and information gathering to agreement finalization—all within one seamless in-app experience. 

About the ERAP

ERAP provides funds directly to states (including the District of Columbia), U.S. Territories, local governments with more than 200,000 residents, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, and Indian tribes or the tribally designated housing entity of an Indian tribe. These eligible grantees must use the funds to provide assistance to eligible households through existing or newly created rental assistance programs.

At least 90% of the rental relief can be used for: (1) future rent and utility payments, (2) back rent owed or utility bills not been paid since the beginning of the pandemic, (3) other expenses related to housing incurred directly or indirectly due to the pandemic. The remaining 10% of funds may be used for housing stability services and administrative costs, including case management or other services related to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Additional details regarding the ERAP can be found here. 

Details about the $1.9 Trillion American Rescue Plan and Unqork’s ready-to-go government solutions can be found here. 

About Unqork

Unqork is a no-code software platform that helps governments innovate licensing, permitting, and regulatory workflows, virtualize in-person services and conduct complex case management.

With a simple drag-and-drop format, Unqork empowers IT teams to rapidly scale applications that require complex integrations with legacy systems, leverage role-based controls, provide full auditability, meet the strictest security protocols, and can be used by millions of users.

The result is cities, states and counties can better drive meaningful outcomes for people. Unqork has delivered innovative and cost-saving software solutions to large enterprises, government agencies, and hospitals with complex needs including Goldman Sachs, Liberty Mutual, Nationwide along with the City of New York, Washington D.C., and Montgomery County, Maryland.

To dig deeper into no-code’s applications in the government sector, check out our “Delivering Public Services In The COVID-19 era” webinar and explore our potential Government Solutions use cases. If you want to learn more about how no-code can be used at your organization, set-up a personalized demonstration with one of our in-house experts.