KVCAP rental assistance is outcome-based

Kennebec Valley Community Action Program (KVCAP) provides a wide selection of services intended to improve the lives of lower-income families in Somerset and Kennebec counties. KVCAP rental assistance is just one segment in the organization’s overall approach to combating the negative effects of poverty and homelessness.

The KVCAP rental assistance program is substantially different from many of the typical cast handout programs. While many rental aid programs are intended to provide a temporary lifeline, they tend to be relied on increasingly as a permanent means of support.

What KVCAP does is to focus more on the educational aspects of responsible tenancy. Clients are provided with case management as well as training programs to help to identify and correct the destructive habits that are often the cause of delinquency with rent payments.

Many clients initially contact KVCAP because they are looking for cash assistance to put towards their delinquent rent payments. What they find instead is an entire shift in how they normally live and pay their bills. They learn how to budget for and maintain a clean and safe dwelling. They learn responsibility for bill payments so that they maintain a better credit score.

Affordable Housing Development

Rather than payout thousands of dollars every month in rental assistance payments, KVCAP focuses heavily on promoting affordable housing developments across Kennebec and Somerset counties. The result is a much higher number of affordable rental properties on the open market.

Landlords who would like to build or renovate properties for lease are provided with financial support with the help of the agency but with a catch. In order to receive the assistance, these landlords must guarantee that the properties will be offered at an affordable rental rate. The result is that families who cannot normally afford average market rents still have a choice in vacancies at any one of these protected rent units.

If you are a tenant who is having a very difficult time finding an affordable rental property and/or you need help in coming up with the cash needed for your rent payments, then you should contact KVCAP at the office closest to you:

  • Augusta. Call 207-622-4761.
  • Skowhegan. Call 207-474-8487.
  • Waterville. Call 207-859-1500.

Get off of that treadmill if you have been frequently struggling to pay your rent and other living costs. Call KVCAP to make a permanent change today.