Yakima County
Rental Assistance Program for Tenants

Households who rent their home/apartment must meet four criteria for Yakima County Emergency Rental assistance.

1. One or more individuals within the household are obligated to pay rent or have rental arrears (past due) on a residence located in Yakima County.
2. Total household income is equal to or less than eighty percent (80%) of the area median income (AMI).
3. One or more individuals within the household who have Qualified for unemployment insurance benefits; or, Experienced financial loss due, directly or indirectly, to COVID-19.
4. One or more individuals within the household can demonstrate a risk of experiencing homelessness; or housing instability.

After submitting your application, it will move through the following five steps:

1. Application Review
   
   
2. Tenant Outreach – someone will contact you if more information is needed.
   
   
3. Eligibility Determination – your application moves to the next step if you meet the eligibility criteria. If not, you will receive a written denial which you can appeal.
   
   
4. Landlord Outreach
   
   
5. Payment Processing

If you would like to check on the status of your application, please log into your FORWARD account and click the “My Applications” tab to see your status.

You meet the income eligibility requirements if your total household income equals or less than 80% of the area median income (AMI). Your AMI depends on how many people live in your household. Click Here for an Area Median Income calculator.

No. United States citizenship is NOT an eligibility requirement of this program.

You must be 18 Years or older to apply. Or you are legally emancipated if under 18 years of age.

Households with missed or partially paid rent can receive assistance for all months of missed rent from March 13, 2020.

However, Yakima County has utilized several funding programs to continue to assist residents with rental assistance. Some rental assistance programs have limited the number of months to 15 or 18, based on the funding source in use at the time of approval.

No. According to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Emergency Rental Assistance is to help eligible households that require financial assistance to pay for rent, utilities, and other related expenses. Rental and utility payments ONLY count as gross income for your landlord or utility provider.

Rental assistance payments are made directly to your landlord via check or direct deposit to their bank account. There are some circumstances in some programs where payment may be made directly to the tenant, if the landlord refuses to participate but these are rare and only under special circumstances. Payments for utilities must go directly to the utility provider and may not be paid to tenants or landlords.

The information provided in your application will be used to contact your landlord or utility provider(s). You will receive documentation of all payments made to your landlord or utility provider(s) on your behalf.

They can include electricity, gas, water/sewer, trash removal, energy costs, such as fuel, oil, or wood for heating. The Internet is considered an utility for this program.

Phone and TV bills are NOT included in the program.

Costs related to obtaining or keeping safe housing will be considered on a case-by-case basis when an application is reviewed.

Yes. Households that receive a monthly federal subsidy are eligible to apply for assistance. However, assistance will only be provided for the amount not covered by other programs.

No, but rental assistance is limited to Fair Market Rent (FMR) for the area.

Households with missed or partially paid rent can receive assistance for all months of missed rent from March 13, 2020.

Yakima County has utilized several funding programs to continue to assist residents with rental assistance. Some rental assistance programs have limited the number of months to 15 or 18, based on the funding source in use at the time of approval.

No, a tenant must apply for assistance. However, a landlord can work with the tenant to provide as much documentation as possible to support the tenant applications. By using the landlord portal to provide documents listed on the landlord checklist, a landlord can support a tenant who has already applied.