Hidalgo County Precinct 3 will be hosting a pop-up event Tuesday in an effort to spread awareness about rental assistance, food insecurity and other programs available to help alleviate monetary issues faced by county residents amid the pandemic.
The pop-up, which is in collaboration with Sullivan City and the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office, is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at the Sullivan City Municipal Park, which is located across Cenizo Drive from the Sullivan City City Office.
It is the first of four events planned for the month of December that are designed as a public outreach for those who can take advantage of resources available to them.
“Working together with the food bank, we have food for approximately 500 families,” Hidalgo County Community Service Agency Director Jaime Longoria said Friday. “Really, it’s a way to get the community to come out and identify those families that are particularly vulnerable and may be struggling with other kinds of issues, such as rent.”
Longoria said the county will triage those families in desperate need of assistance, families that may be facing eviction. He said the county will have representatives on-hand to help families fill out applications and begin the process of attaining rental assistance.
The county will also be setting appointments for families that may not be facing eviction, but are still struggling to pay their bills.
“We’re setting appointments for the very next day for families to come in,” Longoria said. “We have workers that have been trained by the precincts and workers that have been trained by us to go ahead and assist those families.”
Tuesday’s event is just one example of the county making strides to inform the public about the assistance available to them.
“What’s interesting about this is that the requirements have pretty much evolved as the pandemic has moved forward,” Longoria said. “As the pandemic wore on, we’ve been able to really work within the regulations to make it easier for families to qualify — those families that are struggling. We recognize that many families in Hidalgo County can’t pay their rent.
“Trying to keep up with their rent, they’ve dipped into their savings, they’ve sold some of the few assets they may have had.”
The county received $26 million in January to distribute to families in need. Longoria said that the county has until September of next year to distribute those funds.
The county has submitted a performance improvement plan with the U.S. Treasury Department to get more funding into the hands of families in need.
He said that there is a claw back provision, but the county has not yet received feedback on the exact amount that will be taken back.
“That gets rolled over into a kind of a fund, and we’re working with other entities within the state of Texas to see if they can help us administer that money,” Longoria said.
There is a sense of urgency for the county to distribute these funds, as officials have identified widespread need.
“We’ve done everything we can to make the process as simple as we can for families to apply and access these dollars,” Longoria said.
