City of Kirkland COVID-19 Relief Programs

The Residential Rent Relief Program (RRRP) Phase I provided rent and mortgage relief to Kirkland households impacted by COVID-19. The first phase of this program was available for Kirkland community members to submit applications directly on the City’s website. The program opened in September 2021 and the City received applications through April 2022. The City partnered with two agencies, India Association of Western Washington (IAWW) and 4 Tomorrow, to operate the program. The last RRRP application was processed on June 8, 2022.  

The program offered a maximum of $7,500 in grant funding per household to cover rent, mortgage, or HOA arrears. Qualifying households had an income of no more than 100% Annual Median Income (AMI)(PDF, 216KB), were verified Kirkland residents, and attested to a negative financial impact from the pandemic. Qualifying arrears for the first phase of this program were incurred between March 1, 2020 and December 31, 2021.

This phase of the program served 109 households, totaling $464,052.31 in assistance.  

• 239 Partner Agency Referrals
• 142 Completed Applications
• $4,257 Average Grant Amount 
• 88% of Grantees Were Low-Income Households (Below 60% AMI)
• Top Reasons for Ineligibility: No Eligible Arrears, Served by EPRAP, Household Income Over 100% AMI  

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Updated November 15, 2022  

RRRP Phase II contracted partner agencies, 4 Tomorrow, India Association of Western Washington (IAWW), and Eastside Legal Assistance Program (ELAP) are working on the final referrals of Kirkland residents to determine program eligibility, collect documentation, and administer payment. To date, the program has provided $469,946.45 in relief funding. 

The City has received the fourth advanced payment request from 4 Tomorrow as they process the remaining application packets.  With the final rotation of referrals having been distributed, it is anticipated that the documentation needed to process the remaining application packets will be received by the contracted partner agencies by November 18th.  The contracted partner agencies anticipate providing the City with closing reports by December 2nd. Closing reports will include final data for the RRRP Phase II program.    

The following data reflects progress made to this point on the 117 referrals made to the contracted partner agencies as they work through the remaining referrals: 

Program Overview

RRRP Phase II extends the eligible timeframe of RRRP for arrears accrued through June 30, 2022 in recognition of the on-going impacts of the pandemic on housing stability. Applications were extended to qualified households that were served by the first round of assistance but still unstably housed in 2022, were not served by the King County Eviction Prevention and Rent Assistance Program, and/or who contacted the City to be placed on a waitlist prior to June 30, 2022 in the event the City offered assistance for 2022 arrears. This program is not open to the public at this time.   

The City has allotted an additional $1.15 million in ARPA funding towards the program extension. Following outreach to assess current need, the City is referring eligible households to submit applications with partner agencies 4Tomorrow, Eastside Legal Assistance Program, and IAWW.

• 117 Referrals to Partner Agencies
• 27 Completed applications
• $17,405.42 Average Grant Amount
• Top Reasons for Ineligibility: Unresponsive, No Eligible Arrears, Moved

COMING SOON – Program Demographics!

During implementation of RRRP, Imagine Housing, the primary affordable housing provider in East King County, notified the City of the 53% delinquency rate at Kirkland properties. Imagine Housing serves some of Kirkland’s most vulnerable residents, including formerly homeless families, seniors, veterans, and those living with disabilities, many of whom are disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, Council allocated additional rent relief funding to support the 75 Kirkland low-income households in need of assistance with arrears through April 2022. 

Between April 1, 2022 – August 10, 2022, the City worked with Eastside Legal Assistance Program to administer $113,660 in rent relief to 57 households. 16 households were served by other programs, were able to make their rent payments, or moved out of their Imagine Housing unit. Imagine Housing continues to contact the two remaining households, who have been unresponsive.

• 75 Partner Agency Referrals
• 57 Completed applications
• $1,994 Average Grant Amount
• Top Reasons for Ineligibility: Served by Other Programs, No Eligible Arrears, Moved

Coming Soon – Program Demographics!

The Utility Relief Program sought to provide utility relief for qualified Kirkland residents who have been financially impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and had arrears with their Kirkland, Northshore Utility District (NUD), or Woodinville Water District (WWD) Water, Sewer, and Garbage bills. Qualifying households had an income of no more than 100% Annual Median Income (AMI)(PDF, 216KB), were verified Kirkland residents, and attested to a negative financial impact from the pandemic.  

The City conducted two rounds of direct advertisements to households with arrears throughout the duration of the program. The program closed the application for assistance on July 31, 2022 after being open for nearly one year. The program served 55 households, totaling $86,388.44 in assistance. 35% of grant funding was awarded to relieve NUD arrears.  

• 83 Applications Received
• 60 Completed Applications
• $1,544 Average Grant Amount
• 54% of Grantees Were Low-Income Households (Below 60% AMI)
• Top Reasons for Ineligibility: Unresponsive, No Eligible Arrears, Repeat Applicant

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The URP – PSE Expansion provided financial relief to Kirkland residents who applied for the Utility Relief Program or the Residential Rent Relief Program, stated they had PSE arrears, and do not qualify for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) or PSE Help programs. Qualifying households had an income of no more than 100% Annual Median Income (AMI)(PDF, 216KB), were verified Kirkland residents, and attested to a negative financial impact from the pandemic. 

The program closed at the end of July, 2022 and served 10 households, amounting to $10,593.50 in assistance.

• 10 Applications Received
• 10 Completed Applications
• $1,059 Average Grant Amount
• 100% of Grantees Were Low Income Households (Below 60% AMI)
• Top Reasons for Ineligibility: Unresponsive, No Eligible Arrears 

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The Commercial Rent Relief Program provided relief grants to cover rent arrears accumulated by small businesses in Kirkland. CRRP’s goal was to help to prevent small business evictions caused by loss of revenue during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing targeted rent relief to struggling small business tenants and their commercial landlords.  

The City closed the closed the application for assistance on December 17, 2021. The program served 24 businesses, amounting to $224,279.92 in assistance.

• 71 Interest Forms Received
• 24 Completed Applications
• $9,345 Average Grant Amount
• Top Reasons for Ineligibility: No Eligible Arrears, Non-Responsive, Revenue Increased from 2019 to 2020 

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The Small Business Relief Program (SBRP) aimed to help Kirkland’s smallest and disproportionately affected businesses remain operational. Assistance was targeted to very small businesses with demonstrated need and aimed to assist as many of 45 businesses that applied for funds from the CRRP, had a demonstrated COVID-19 hardship, but did not meet Commercial Rent Relief Program (CRRP) criteria. These ineligible small businesses, many being immigrant-owned, had incurred debt from informal sources in order to stay current on their contractual leases, a type of debt that was outside of the scope of CRRP.  

The program closed the application for assistance on June 13, 2022. The program awarded 51 grants, totaling $330,233 in assistance.

• 110 Intake Forms Received
• 51 Completed Applications
• $6,475 Average Grant  

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