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How EPRAP Works
Program Design and Funding
King County’s Eviction Prevention and Rent Assistance Program was one of the ways the County has helped residents who were behind in rent and utility payments due to COVID-19 hardships. The program provided payments for back rent and even future rent obligations. Households throughout King County who had fallen behind in rent due to unemployment, lost wages, and health crises as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The King County EPRAP program is managed and operated by the Department of Community and Human Services (DCHS).
The Grantee agrees that any publications (written, visual, or sound) but excluding press releases, newsletters, and issue analyses, issued by the Grantee describing programs or projects funded in whole or in part with federal funds under this Grant, shall contain the following statements:
"This project was supported by grant awarded by US Department of Treasury. Points of view in this document are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the US Department of the Treasury. Grant funds are administered by the Local Government Coronavirus Relief Fund thru the Washington State Department of Commerce."
EPRAP's first iteration ran from August 2020 to June 2021 and served 11,631 households distributing $49.6 million in rent assistance. The second iteration began in July 2021 to May 2022 distributing $280 million in rent assistance to 25,710 households.
Starting May 25, DCHS has contracted with United Way King County's Homebase program www.uwkc.org/renthelp/ for the EPRAP Tenant Pool Program administration and oversight.
UWKS and their partners will continue to process applications for tenants that pre-registered before February 28, 2022, through the tenant portal on our website while rent assistance funding remains.
Each week, King County randomly selects registered tenants from the tenant pool to participate in the program. The number selected varies based on service providers' capacity. Existing applicants can continue to log into the tenant portal to get a status update.
King County EPRAP has limited funding available. Unfortunately, we will not be able to help everyone that has registered.
To ensure resources were distributed to those at the highest risk of eviction, four programs were deployed and designed to distribute rental assistance quickly, efficiently, and equitably.
1. Landlord Program
In April/May 2021, 314 large landlords that represented 1,300 properties agreed early to be part of EPRAP.
Contracted agencies were assigned properties from the landlord pool and then worked directly with tenants to help them gather required documentation.
- A Giving and Caring Heart
- African Community Housing and Development
- Multi-Service Center
- Muslim Housing
- Reclaiming Our Greatness
- World Changers Non-Profit
- United Way
- Neighborhood House
- ReWA
- Solid Ground
- Urban League
- Wellspring
2. Tenant Pool Program
The Tenant Pool was designed for tenants to directly register to receive rental assistance through King County. Eligible tenants did pre-registered on the EPRAP Tenant Portal. Each week, King County randomly selected registered tenants from the tenant pool to participate in the program. The number selected varied based on service providers’ capacity.
Contracted agencies were assigned households from the Tenant Pool and worked with landlords to help them understand the EPRAP Payment Agreement Form
- Arc of King County
- Centro Cultural Mexicano
- Riverton Park United Methodist Church
- St. Stephen Housing Association
- St. Vincent de Paul
- Y Social Impact Center
- YouthCare
- Hearing, Speech and Deaf Center
3. Hub and Spoke Program
In the “Hub and Spoke” model, King County contracted with “hub” CBOs that then sub-contracted with “spokes” CBOs to provide rental assistance services to the community.
The hub agencies provided direct service which also distributed or allowed spokes to draw in tenants representative of their communities. This program allowed eligible tenants to sign-up directly through the community organizations they're already connected to.
Contracted agencies worked with both the tenant and the landlord to help them gather required documentation.
- El Centro de la Raza (Hub)
- Para Los Niños
- Villa Comunitaria
- Mary’s Place (Hub)
- Boys and Girls Club
- Community Passageways
- Eastside Legal Assistance Program
- Open Doors for Multicultural Families (Hub)
- Falis Community Services
- 4 C Coalition
- Asian Council and Referral Service
- Pacific Islander Community Association of WA (Hub)
- First Chuukese Washington Women Association
- YWCA (Hub)
- Mother Africa
- Africatown International
- White Center Community Development Association (Hub)
- Cham Refugees Community
- Education for All
- Praisealelujah (Hub)
- Gold Soul Foundation
- Generosity On the Go
- Lutheran Community Services Northwest (Hub)
- Refugee NW Resettlement Office
- Korean Women’s Association
- West African Community Council (Hub)
- Sengalese Association of Seattle
- Congolese Integration Network
- Chief Seattle Club (Hub)
- Horn of Africa Services (Hub)
- Jewish Family Services (Hub)
4. Outreach and Application Assistance Program
The Outreach and Application Assistance Program was designed to support the Landlord and Tenant Programs. Participants in this program were deployed to help gather required paperwork in the community by providing in-person outreach.
Contracted agencies provided extensive outreach to community members that supported tenants and landlords identified by King County who needed help applying for rent due to language, disability, or technical needs.
- 4 Tomorrow
- Afghan Health Initiative
- Centro Cultural Mexicano
- Dispute Resolution Center – Seattle
- Empower Next Generation
- Generosity on the Go
- Northwest Behavioral Guides
- Port of Support
- Praisealelujah
- Reclaiming Our Greatness
- Serve Ethiopians Washington
- South East Youth and Family Services
- St. Stephen Housing Association
- The Dare2Be Project
- UNITY Services
- West African Community Council
5. Eviction Prevention Program
Paying rent assistance on behalf of eligible households is one half of the effort to maintain housing stability in the shadow of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Eviction Prevention Program is deployed to provide eviction diversion and mediation to eligible households that have received an eviction summons in King County. Dedicated funding has been committed to the Housing Justice Project and Dispute Resolution Centers to provide legal aid to stop evictions based on unpaid rent.
This program targeted direct services to underrepresented communities, focused on serving properties based on the highest delinquency rates. The program prioritized income-qualified households at or below 50% of Area Median Income and households that verified financial hardship directly or indirectly due to the COVID-19.
Tenant Pool Program
This program promoted equity by focusing on groups who face additional barriers to accessing rental assistance and those who the COVID-19 outbreak had disproportionately impacted. (Asian, Latinx or Hispanic, Black or African American, American Indian and Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, as well as youth and young adults.)
King County drew tenants from the Tenant Pool weekly and assigned them to agencies based on their weekly capacity, mission, and demographics. The Tenant Pool model promoted equitable allocation of resources to tenants in need of assistance.
Hub and Spoke Program
Non-profit organizations that supported the Hub and Spoke Program helped tenants with differing abilities and languages. There are agencies contracted to provide language support and reasonable accommodations to make sure tenants successfully applied for rental assistance.
Agencies that supported the Landlord Program received a direct allocation of rental assistance (25% of their contract) to serve their own clients or households by reaching out directly to them for help.
- 4 C Coalition
- 4 Tomorrow
- A Giving and Caring Heart
- Afghan Health Initiative
- African Community Housing and Development
- Africatown International
- Arc of King County
- Asian Council and Referral Service
- Boys and Girls Club
- Centro Cultural Mexicano
- Cham Refugees Community
- Chief Seattle Club
- Community Passageways
- Congolese Integration Network
- Dispute Resolution Center – Seattle
- Eastside Legal Assistance Program
- Education for All Foundation
- El Centro de la Raza
- Empower Next Generation
- Falis Community Services
- First Chuukese Washington Women Association
- Generosity on the Go
- Gold Soul Foundation
- Hearing, Speech and Deaf Center
- Horn of Africa Services
- Jewish Family Services
- Korean Women’s Association
- Lutheran Community Services Northwest
- Mary’s Place
- Mother Africa
- Multi-Service Center
- Muslim Housing
- Neighborhood House
- Northwest Behavioral Guides
- Open Doors for Multicultural Families
- Pacific Islander Community Association of WA
- Para Los Niños
- Port of Support
- Praisealelujah
- Reclaiming Our Greatness
- Refugee NW Resettlement Office
- ReWA
- Riverton Park United Methodist Church
- Sengalese Association of Seattle
- Serve Ethiopians Washington
- Solid Ground
- South East Youth and Family Services
- St. Stephen Housing Association
- St. Vincent de Paul
- The Dare2Be Project
- United Way of King County
- Urban League
- UNITY Services
- Villa Comunitaria
- Wellspring
- West African Community Council
- White Center Community Development Association
- World Changers Non-Profit
- Y Social Impact Center
- YouthCare
- YWCA
