Rental assistance delays leave Baltimore tenants at risk as courts clear eviction backlog

For Sheila Riley and her family, the difference between remaining housed and homelessness came down to whether a rental assistance check would arrive in time. Riley and her husband had applied for funds in April after the couple lost their jobs early in the pandemic and struggled to get back on their feet. But for months, their West Baltimore apartment’s property management company failed to either fill out its half of the application, or to formally decline the funds. That would have allowed the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success, which oversees the city’s rental assistance funds, to make out the check directly to the Rileys.