COBB COUNTY, Ga. — Cobb County's Board of Commissioners set aside $750,000 from federal rental assistance funds Tuesday for their proposed eviction diversion program. The program will offer both financial assistance and resources to Cobb residents to help prevent evictions.
The program, which should launch toward the end of the year or the start of next year, will allow tenants and renters to voluntarily apply for assistance, according to Cobb County Chief Magistrate Judge Brendan F. Murphy.
Murphy explained the program would focus on getting to the root of the issue for families facing eviction.
"Tenants would have access to rental assistance, and they'd also have access to try to help work on some of the underlying causes that brought them to eviction court," he told 11Alive.
The help provided would include resources like financial literacy, life skills, job training, job application skills, resume skills and substance abuse counseling.
The funding comes from the millions of dollars in federal rental assistance that the county has received since March 2020.
Cobb County's Board of Commissioners voted on the distribution of about $4.7 million of the $5.4 million it received last month to the four nonprofit groups currently administering the program Tuesday.
The county is also set to receive one more allocation from the federal government.
The program, according to officials, is meant to offer a long-term solution rather than immediate rental assistance and will have more requirements than the federal rental assistance program.
Murphy told 11Alive that even before the pandemic, Cobb County courts saw about 20,000 eviction filings a year, with many families finding themselves in eviction court month after month trying to make ends meet.
Murphy said the program aims to bring in resources to help families become self-sufficient and avoid a first-time eviction, which makes it harder to receive housing or to have a home in the future.
A final vote to fund the new program is expected several months from now.