Chattanooga City Council Members approve COVID-19 rent help funding

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn.  – On Tuesday, Chattanooga City Council Members approved funding for a COVID-19 Emergency Rental & Utility Assist Program.

Through the program people can get money for their rent or utilities.

Residents can apply for this assistance, but in order to get the help you have to be eligible.

To be eligible, your household income has to be up to 120 percent of the Area Median Income.

You also have to be directly impacted by COVID-19 that includes people who have been laid off, furloughed or have reduced hours.

Business owners have already been able to apply for COVID-19 grants and loans, but applications for mitigation grants have closed.

According to the city, over 200 small businesses applied for grants and at least 140 have been awarded.

“To the greatest extent possible we tried to focus this help on the small businesses that were impacted by the executive orders and that were closed down or that were, that were disrupted substantially,” Jermaine Freeman with the Economic and Community Development Office said.

According the Economic and Community Development Office, restaurants were the largest category of businesses to get approved followed by grooming related businesses.