Carbon County has been approved for an additional $60,000 in rent relief funds to help more families and landlords affected by the pandemic.

On Thursday, Commissioner Chris Lukasevich announced the additional money from the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency for the program.

He noted that the money equates to being able to help approximately 13 more families or landlords who lost income as a result of the pandemic and haven’t been able to meet rental payments.

“More can apply, although we did have individuals who were in the process of having applications approved, but since we were down to our last few dollars, they could not continue to the process,” Lukasevich said, noting that as soon as the funds arrive at Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Allentown, the agency will continue processing those applications that had been halted.

This summer, the Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency’s 2020 Pennsylvania CARES Rent Relief program was established to assist families experiencing job or income loss as a result of the COVID-19 health crisis who are now struggling to pay their rent.

As of Oct. 8, the program had helped 67 households and 56 landlords in Carbon County.