{"id":47722,"date":"2021-03-09T15:11:04","date_gmt":"2021-03-09T20:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/?p=47722"},"modified":"2021-03-09T15:11:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-09T20:11:20","slug":"lee-cares-rental-and-utility-assistance-application-portal-now-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/2021\/03\/lee-cares-rental-and-utility-assistance-application-portal-now-open\/","title":{"rendered":"Lee CARES rental and utility assistance application portal now open"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Relief is on the way for you if you\u2019re worried you won\u2019t be able to pay your rent or utility fees: Lee County commissioners are looking to get renters more money through the Lee CARES Emergency\u200b Rental Assistance Program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"870\" height=\"302\" src=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/leecares-1.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-47724\" srcset=\"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/leecares-1.png 870w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/leecares-1-300x104.png 300w, https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/leecares-1-768x267.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 870px) 100vw, 870px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Through January, Lee County distributed more than $60 million in aid during the pandemic. The county has received over $23 million to help renters through this program, which will be used to pay their bills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>LINK<\/strong>:&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/leeflcares.com\/\">Lee CARES information<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leeflcares.com\/\">&nbsp;application portal<\/a>&nbsp;opened on March 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee County received 1,457 applications (excluding the City of Fort Myers) within the first hour. The City of Fort Myers received 270 applications, as of 3:30 p.m.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The County also says, there no current deadline to apply at this time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee County also says, there has been higher demand than they expected on the first day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The criteria to qualify was created by the federal government under the CARES Act, and if demand isn\u2019t high enough to get all the money in the hands of people who need it, Lee County said they would consider talking to the federal government about the criteria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lee County will pay up to six months of past due rent and utilities and three months of prospective payments for qualified households, plus ongoing payment of future rent as permitted. However, rental assistance cannot exceed a total of 12 months for each qualified household. The total months include past due, current due, and prospective payments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a household requires additional assistance after the arrears and three months\u2019 prospective payments are made, they must recertify by providing updated documentation. The county intends to pay landlords directly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" src=\"https:\/\/w3.cdn.anvato.net\/player\/prod\/v3\/anvload.html?key=eyJtIjoiQU5WIiwidiI6IjUwMDY5NDEiLCJhbnZhY2siOiJhbnZhdG9fbWNwX2Fudl93ZWJfcHJvZF83OTE0MDc0OTBmNGMxZWYyYTRiY2IyMTEwM2UwY2IxYmNiMzM1MmIzIiwic2hhcmVMaW5rIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly93d3cud2lua25ld3MuY29tLzIwMjEvMDIvMjgvbGVlLWNhcmVzLXJlbnRhbC1hc3Npc3RhbmNlLXJlb3BlbnMtb24tbW9uZGF5LyIsInBsdWdpbnMiOnsiYW5hbHl0aWNzIjp7InBkYiI6Ijg5Mzg4NDkyIiwic2VydmVyVVJMIjoiaHR0cDovL2FuYWx5dGljcy12Mi5hbnZhdG8uY29tL1ZpZGVvQW5hbHl0aWNzL3NyYy92aWRlb19sb2cucGhwIn0sImRmcCI6eyJjbGllbnRTaWRlIjp7ImFkVGFnVXJsIjoiaHR0cHM6Ly9wdWJhZHMuZy5kb3VibGVjbGljay5uZXQvZ2FtcGFkL2Fkcz9zej02NDB4NDgwJml1PS8yMDU0MjMwOC9QcmVfcm9sbF90ZXN0JmltcGw9cyZnZGZwX3JlcT0xJmVudj12cCZvdXRwdXQ9dmFzdCZ1bnZpZXdlZF9wb3NpdGlvbl9zdGFydD0xJnVybD1bcmVmZXJyZXJfdXJsXSZkZXNjcmlwdGlvbl91cmw9W2Rlc2NyaXB0aW9uX3VybF0mY29ycmVsYXRvcj1bdGltZXN0YW1wXSJ9fSwicmVhbFRpbWVBbmFseXRpY3MiOnRydWUsImhlYWx0aEFuYWx5dGljcyI6e319LCJodG1sNSI6dHJ1ZX0%3D\"  width =\"640\" height=\"360\"><\/iframe>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Relief is on the way for you if you\u2019re worried you won\u2019t be able to pay your rent or utility fees: Lee County commissioners are looking to get renters more&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":47723,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47722"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}