LAS VEGAS (KTNV) — Fredes Vinda Layton applied for the Clark County CARES Housing Assistance Program (CHAP) back in December. She was approved on Feb. 4 for 5 months of rent but neither she nor her landlord have received funds.
"CHAP kept telling me don’t worry. You are approved. He’s going to get paid. Enough is enough," says Layton.
A pop-up notice on the website says the county is currently accepting applications and that it may take more than 4 weeks to process. However, once Layton was approved, a confirmation email stated that her landlord would get a check within 10 days.
RELATED: Las Vegas man chooses homelessness over accruing pandemic debt
"At that time, I put my landlord on a three way so that he could hear it from them because at this point I’m afraid he thinks I’m lying. I don’t want to get evicted from my apartment. I’ve been there for three years and have always paid," said Layton.
Layton is a full time student at CSN who lost her job during the pandemic. Then, two months ago, her mother died.
"I haven’t been able to mourn my mom properly because I’m so stressed out about my rent. I think about it 24 hours a day," Layton tells us.
After countless calls and wasted time to CHAP, Layton just wants answers.
Layton says: "I don’t understand why they can’t just pick up the phone. I understand a lot of people are applying for the assistance but why can’t they just figure out where that money is?"
PREVIOUS: Approximately 23,500 Clark County households still waiting for help with rent
In a statement, Clark County says they updated the CHAP portal and plan to increase the application processing speed.
"On March 20, a mass email was distributed to more than 23,000 pending applications instructing applicants to update their CHAP application in the CHAP portal and upload their documents. As of yesterday, March 29, 7,231 applications have been updated, but are waiting on documents to be uploaded. Applications without uploaded documents do not make it to the case worker queue. This is why Mr. Schiller emphasized in the news conference that applicants must upload the required documents to the portal; if they do not, their application will not be assigned to a case worker and they’ll lose their place in line,” said Erik R. Pappa, Clark County Director of Public Communications
ORIGINAL STORY: Clark County launches website to help residents with living expenses
Layton’s CHAP counselor told her they don’t have the ability to verify the status of the check. If it’s been more than 30 days then they can escalate the case. However, this would be the third time they escalated her case.
