Common Council

Clarification: Madison Rental Assistance Program - Dane Core

The emergency rental assistance program, being offered by the City of Madison and Dane County and funded by the federal government, has begun and will be known as the Dane CORE (COronavirus Rental Assistance) Program. The program aims to support tenants in Madison and Dane County who owe behind in their rent payments, because of lost income or other financial hardships due to COVID-19.

All requests for rent assistance must be made through an on-line application. To get started, interested persons should go to the pre-application portal which is available on the Tenant Resource Center's website:  https://core.tenantresourcecenter.org/. The attached notice was released on Wednesday and TRC reports it has already received over 3,000 pre-applications. If you choose to send a blog about the availability of rental assistance, please use the attached language so that interested residents receive a consistent message.

As you know, the Council acted to provide funds to support the work of a number community partners. The community partners have asked us not to identify them as an open resource for anyone to contact at this time. Those agencies are expected to provide rental assistance, with the City funds awarded to them, to households they are already working with through existing programs and their own outreach. We are meeting with community partners weekly and will update outreach messaging if that is to change.  

For residents seeking assistance to complete the online application, Joining Forces for Families has allowed us to share their contact information. Links can be found here: https://danecountyhumanservices.org/jff/locations.aspx

City of Madison's Financial Navigators can also provide information regarding the documentation needed to access rental assistance. Folks can sign up for a session here:  Sign up for a session

Tenant Resource Center will be updating its website with locations/dates/times for in-person application support available to community members.

And finally, Internet and Computer Access through Madison Public Library information can be found here:

https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/resources/services/internet-and-computer-access