Johnson County supervisors approve direct assistance program
The Board of Supervisors voted to approve the program Thursday. Two supervisors voted in opposition, because the program will not give priority for payments to those who had not received previous pandemic relief.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors discuss during a budget meeting at the Johnson County Administration Building on Jan. 12, 2022.
February 24, 2022
Johnson County residents excluded from previous COVID-19 relief payments will not get priority in receiving funds from the county’s direct assistance program.
The Johnson County Board of Supervisors voted to pass the current eligibility requirements for the Johnson County Direct Assistance Program at the board’s Thursday meeting. Applicants must have resided in Johnson County since March 2020, and have a low to moderate income, and show some form of hardship caused by the pandemic.
The funding will be allocated in a lottery system to those who qualify.
The Supervisors passed the eligibility requirements 3-2, with Supervisors Rod Sullivan and Jon Green voting in opposition. The county will allocate $3.5 million to the program, providing a one-time payment of $1,400 to recipients.
Residents who did not receive previous pandemic relief payments, which can include undocument immigrants and previously incarcerated people, are still eligible to receive payments, but will not receive special priority, as supervisors Green and Sullivan proposed at the board’s Wednesday work session.
Green said that the supervisors had the opportunity to do what is right by voting no to the program as-is.
“I think we have covered this pretty well, but I would simply underline and highlight points the public have made over the past 10 months overwhelmingly in favor of prioritizing those who have been excluded from previous stabilization payments,” Green said.
Shortly after the supervisors voted, Ninoska Campos, Fund Excluded Workers Coalition leader, which has advocated for pandemic relief payments for those ineligible for previous payments, issued a statement saying the group will now focus on lobbying the city governments of North Liberty and Coralville to add funds to the county’s Direct Assistance Program.
“Escucha Mi Voz members thank Supervisors Rod Sullivan and Jon Green for their support but overall we give Johnson County an F for their response to the negative economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic,” Campos said in the press release.