Ohio is on its way to spendingroughly $560 million in COVID-19 rental assistance money, which the state had been slow in putting that money into the hands of renters.

The deadline for Ohio to use its portion of the money passed last Friday, and the Ohio Department of Development did not respond by Friday. But a U.S. Treasury official confirmed that Ohio was already on its way to spending its allocation as soon as the end of last March.

The emergency rental assistance program was set up by Congress last year to help those who lost their jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic and were behind on rent.

More than two years after the onset of the pandemic, the need for rental help persists. In August, 63% of 270,000 Ohio renters surveyed said they were very likely or somewhat likely to be evicted in the next two months, according to a U.S. Census survey. More than 60% said they did not apply for rental assistance.

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