GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) -- Phones at the Salvation Army office on South Elm Eugene Street have been ringing off the hook.
"We're looking at about 200-300 calls every single day," said Lt. Chris Raymer, corps officer with Greensboro Salvation Army.
Now it's even busier since the City of Greensboro announced they are pausing the Emergency Rental Assistance Program on Oct. 31.
So far, about 2,800 people in the city of Greensboro received funds from the ERAP with an average of $4,500 going to families.
"I don't think we anticipated spending our funds down this quickly" said Elizabeth Alverson, a homeless prevention coordinator.
She says about $27 million were provided to people in need in less than seven months.
The HOPE Program, which provided funds to low-income renters, is not an option in Guilford County because of the millions of dollars already allocated.
"We do have a backup: the Guilford County ERAP. Their application process is still open and available," Alverson said.
Right now, the city has about 1,300 applications waiting to be processed.
"Another reason why we're pausing. We never want to do a disservice to our residents by overpromising. So what we want to do is make sure people in the queue, who have sought assistance, we can process, expedite that," Alverson said. "If additional funds become available, we will start that process again."
The deadline for new applicants is Oct. 31 at 5 p.m.
The pause in the program allows city workers to catch up with the more than 1,300 applications already in the system.
If you're included in that number, the pausing of the program won't affect you.
People who can't make that deadline can apply through Guilford County through their website.
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