Kettering’s STAY PUT program — assisting residents in Kettering, Centerville, Moraine and Washington Twp. — is one of the few COVID relief related rental assistance programs still taking applications. Other county partners stopped taking applications in April. Miami Valley Community Action Partnership, which received $40 million to help renters in five counties, stopped taking applications for COVID-19 rental and utility assistance in July.
Montgomery County is eligible to receive up to $5 million more in federal money to aid renters impacted by COVID from being legally removed, and plans to apply next month, county spokeswoman Kara Hamby said.
“There’s a tremendous amount of need,” said Kettering Community Development Manager Angela Rahman, who oversees the city’s STAY PUT program.
Granting Kettering’s request for more funds will give STAY PUT $5.2 million since the U.S. Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance Program started last year, City Manager Mark Schwieterman said.
Among county program contractors, Homefull, a Dayton agency working to end homelessness, has received the most at $7.75 million, according to the county. Other contractors include Goodwill Easter Seals Miami Valley and Catholic Social Services, Hamby said in an email.
COVID is still impacting the ability for some people to work while housing costs rise, officials said.
“I think people are still rebounding from COVID,” said Homefull CEO Tina Patterson, noting that job loss and child care issues continue to influence the need. “It’s certainly not a quick rebound for many, many folks in our community.”
Meanwhile, eviction cases are on the rise, Rahman said.
Through Sept. 30, those filings in Kettering Municipal Court — whose jurisdiction includes Centerville, Moraine and Washington Twp. — totaled 490, which is 40 more than all of 2021, documents show.
A federal COVID moratorium on evictions issued in 2020 helped cut the number of filings that year to 351 and 450 the next year, Kettering court Clerk Rob Scott said in an email.
Still, this year’s figure is on pace to exceed 2019′s pre-COVID total of 581.
Cases are dismissed or delayed for a variety of reasons, Scott said, but a main one lately has been Kettering’s STAY PUT program.
About 280 of the 938 STAY PUT recipients have been saved from active eviction filings, according to the city. Those receiving funds have an average monthly rent of $844 and are about three months behind in payments when they apply, Rahman said.
“It’s a desperate time right now,” she said. “The people that are coming to us, you can hear in their voice on the call.”
To date, 4,752 households countywide have received assistance, Hamby said. Homefull has granted funds to about 1,450 applicants and 59 are pending, Patterson said.
ZIP codes in the county receiving the most aid are 45417 and 45406, which account for more than $4.7 million, records show. Others in the top five are 45405, 45426 and 45402.
In Kettering, more than 230 applications had not yet been processed as of Sept. 28, Rahman said.
Four ZIP codes account for more than 55% of all recipients in the municipal court’s jurisdiction, Kettering records show. They are 45420, 45429, 45417, and 45439.
Rahman said she expects the aid to be available for perhaps six to nine more months.
“As long as there are funds available, I think it’s prudent that Kettering take advantage of (how) we can help people in the community,” Rahman said.
STAY PUT initially set a March 30 application deadline, but that has been extend, according to the city.
To be eligible for funds, according to Kettering, applicants must:
- Have low- to moderate-income, which is 80% of area median income. A household of two cannot earn more than $53,000 annually.
- Live in ZIP codes within the court’s jurisdiction.
- Show that they have experienced financial hardship due to the COVID pandemic that meets the U.S. Treasury guidelines.
- Have property owners agree to accept payments.
For application information, go to https://www.ketteringoh.org/stayput/.
EVICTION CASES
Kettering Municipal Court eviction filings have increased the past two years after COVID-mandated restrictions were lifted.
Year Filings
2019 - 581
2020 - 358
2021 - 450
2022 - 490*
*Through Sept. 30.
Source: Kettering Municipal Court.
RENTAL FUNDS
Montgomery County has distributed $17.7 million in federal aid to help qualified renters avoid evictions. The city of Kettering is one of its contractors, administering a program for Kettering, Centerville, Moraine and Washington Twp., all under the Kettering Municipal Court’s jurisdiction. The following ZIP codes are where the most rental relief funds were approved in the county and Kettering’s STAYPUT program:
Montgomery County
•45417 - $2,336,626
•45406 - $2,038,323
•45405 - $1,666,332
•45426 - $1,084,018
•45402 - $918,791
Kettering
•45420 - $649,132
•45429 - $588,974
•45417 - $466,504
•45439 - $451,601
•45440 - $360,256
Source: Montgomery County and the city of Kettering.
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