The Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), which started in Wyoming at the end of April, has seen an increase in applications approved, going from 39 at the end of May, to 351 approved by June 25, or 27% of completed applications.

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The program has provided $1 million in assistance, out of $7.8 million that has been requested, up from $124,000 a month ago.

So far, the Wyoming Department of Family Services has received 3,600 applications, 1,300 of which have been completed, 2,300 are in the process of being completed, while 13 applications have been denied, mostly due to income being too high.

The program requires people to have their income be less than or equal to 80% of a persons area median income, which for Natrona County is $45,400 for a one person household, $51,850 for a two people household, and $58,350 for a three people household.

At a Zoom call where the Department of Family Services discussed ERAP, Cari Cuffney, senior policy advisor for the department, said that they have hired more people to process applications and field questions that people had.

While they were unable to provide a specific number, Ty Stockton, communications manager for the department of workforce services, said they have hired "quite a few" more case managers and call operators.

ERAP is also available in states across the country, like in Colorado, a state with a population of 5.75 million, which has approved 35,289 applications out of 44,337 applications since the program started in March, or Montana, with a population of 1.07 million, which has approved 1,574 out of 3,054 applications totaling over $9 million in assistance, since the program started on April 5.

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