Community Action Program of Lancaster County helps families make their rent payments

This community action program has tons of programs to assist with household bills. If you qualify, you could get pass through funds to help pay your rent.

Community Action Program of Lancaster County is a service organization that provides counseling and case management to lower income families who have experienced recent financial hardship. They understand that a job loss, injury or some other emergency can cause a family to fall behind on their bills and risk financial ruin.

To help you out in your time of need, the agency can help you meet your basic living costs over a short period of time. This could make the difference between getting back on your feet in your own residence or becoming homeless. The goal of the Outreach program is to give you the cash you need during a financial crisis to prevent a financial disaster.

The Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare provides the agency with funding to make sure that families like yours does not end up without a home. They prefer to pay a few dollars now to restore your financial independence rather than have you become a long-term recipient of public assistance. As a result, you could end up with rental assistance money if your case manager agrees that your case has merit and you meet the qualifications set forth by the agency and the state of Pennsylvania.

Your case manager will consider your household income and include other factors such as the presence of elderly, disabled or young children in the household. They will make sure that the rental rate that you are responsible for is not above the average market rental rate for Lancaster County. As long as you qualify and meet the guidelines, you could receive money to pay to your landlord. This cash does not have to be repaid.

The help does not stop there. You may also get funds towards your utility bills through several programs:

• Customer Assistance and Referral Services (CARES) could help you with late bills that resulted in a disconnection notice.
• Your case manager will also let you know if you qualify for a permanently reduced electricity bill as a benefit of the PPL OnTrack Program.
• Operation HELP can give you emergency heating bill assistance.
• UGI Penn Natural Gas has a Customer Assistance Program (CAP) which could forgive a portion of each month’s bill as long as it is paid on-time.

As you can see, your household bills could really benefit from these programs when you lack the resources to pay them. Taking the initiative to contact Community Action Program of Lancaster County before it is too late could keep you and your family warm in your home and off the streets.