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140 <br />120 <br />100 <br />U <br />Q 80 <br />Q <br />0 <br />60 <br />.0 <br />E <br />Z 40 <br />20 <br />IQ <br />Rental & Mortgage Assistance Applicants by Month <br />Program M <br />Over the last couple months, the number of ligible applicants with a COVID-related reason for <br />delinquency has continued to decrease. With ontinued improvement in the local economy (4.6% local <br />unemployment rate in Se/hia <br />er), staff be ' ves that the number of COVID-impacted residents will be <br />minimal. It appears thatighborin reasure and Space Coast counties share this notion, as they <br />have terminated their resCARE Act funded COVID-related rental assistance programs. County <br />staff has discussed a sunhis pr gram on December 31, 2021 with Judge Menz and Florida Rural <br />Legal Services. This actil also allow staff to direct resources to some of the ARP funded programs <br />that are meant to help wg g impacts of the pandemic, such as the SHARP program aimed at <br />addressing increased affty challenges. Therefore, staff recommends a sunset of the eviction <br />diversion program, effeccember 31, 2021 as currently structured. We are still exploring options <br />to allow an outside agenperate the program through April 1, 2022, and will provide an update of <br />the status of this plan at tting. <br />Funding <br />Funding for the viction Diversion Program is provided by a $2 million allocation from the CARES <br />Act. As of N5&ember 2, 2021, a total of $407,827 has been expended. Staff anticipates that additional <br />funds will utilized at mediation sessions in November and December. In total, the County has <br />expended 2,362,887 out of the total CARES Act allocation of $4.5 million for rental and mortgage <br />assistan . This leaves $2,137,113 remaining. The County's health insurance fund has incurred a total <br />of $2 million in expenses for COVID-related treatment for County and Constitutional Officers' <br />emp oyees and dependents since the start of the pandemic. Staff proposes to utilize $1.2 million out of <br />th remaining funding to reimburse the health insurance fund for these expenses. This would leave <br />25 <br />