Carbon County is looking to help more families in need of rental assistance with the extra money it still has through a program that came about as of the pandemic.

Recently, the board of commissioners approved a subgrant with United Way of the Greater Lehigh Valley to administer the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. The funds, which amount to just over $1 million, were part of the ERAP-2 payments Carbon County received through the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services.

Eloise Ahner, county administrator, said that the United Way is picking up where Catholic Charities, the former administer of the Carbon ERAP program, left off.

As of the action, the board wasn’t sure on when the program will be up and running, citing the need to get everything in order before it can go live again.

The county said that Catholic Charities could no longer handle the program.

“It’s a lot of paperwork,” Ahner said.

Commissioner Wayne Nothstein said he appreciates the United Way stepping up to take over because otherwise the county would need to return the funding.

The ERAP program begin in 2021 as a way to help families and individuals affected by the pandemic that were now at risk of losing their home due to lack of income. At that time, Carbon County received $4.22 million for the program.

In September 2021, the county was awarded a second round of funding in the amount of $1.337 million in ERAP-2 payments to be used for the program.

At that time, approximately 220 applicants had been approved for rental help.

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