December 27, 2021 3:25 a.m.

Nearly 29,000 Oregon households have received rental assistance relief due to hardships from the pandemic.

A release from Oregon Housing and Community Services said as of Wednesday, OHCS and local program administrators have paid $200.4 million in federal emergency rental assistance, up from $187.5 million and 26,940 applicants the previous week. That is through the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

The release said OERAP continues to be one of the nation’s top-performing programs and is ranked 5th in the nation, in the percentage of federal Emergency Rental Assistance funds paid out and obligated, as tracked by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.