TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida’s children and family welfare agency wants to funnel nearly $21 million in leftover federal COVID funds through Hope Florida, a three-year-old program set up to help people connect with nonprofit community agencies.

The money is what remains from one of the largest rental assistance programs the state has ever administered, and mainly comes from uncashed checks that didn’t find their way to intended recipients, according to a Florida Department of Children and Families email sent to lawmakers Oct. 9.

“This speaks to DCF’s challenges making sure federal dollars allocated are going to those in need,” said Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando.

The department has a history of delaying food stamp and other benefits, Eskamani said, which makes her wonder how the fledgling Hope Florida, which is part of DCF, will perform. The uncashed checks are a further sign of the department’s struggles getting benefits out to needy Floridians on time, especially in the midst of a housing crisis, she added.

Rising housing costs and the destruction of housing stock by several years of massive, deadly hurricanes have left many struggling to afford places to live. Eskamani said her district office alone handles about 60 cases a day from residents requesting rental assistance.

“Honestly we just need the money to get distributed,” she said.

According to the email sent to the state’s 140 legislators, the $20.7 million is part of a $1.6 billion grant Florida received from the U.S. Department of Treasury over a two-year period to provide emergency rental assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

DCF Deputy Chief of Staff Mallory McManus said the department is seeking legislative approval that would allow those unspent dollars to continue helping families with rental and utility assistance and have Hope Florida administer the application process. She said Hope Florida would use the same federal eligibility criteria as the previous emergency rental program.

She did not address Eskamani’s concerns about delayed benefits.

The request will be automatically approved Thursday if no formal objections are filed, according to the email.

“The department will continue to utilize local partners to meet rent and utility needs before spending available grant funding,” the email said. “Individuals will be required to meet the eligibility criteria identified by the U.S. Department of Treasury and will be screened for eligibility by the department before funds are expended.”

DCF contracted with a private vendor, Tidal Basin Government Consultants, in 2021 to administer the federally funded program.

The emergency rental assistance program served over 250,000 households and ended in early 2023. Later, the department discovered a balance of $20.7 million after reconciling “closeout administrative costs and the receipt of returned checks,” the email said.

Only $18.63 million would be available for rental assistance, the memo said. The other $2.07 million would go to administrative costs.

DCF began Hope Florida began as a pilot program in several counties in 2020, and it was launched by First Lady Casey DeSantis as a statewide program a year later. It uses state-employed Hope Navigators to help connect clients with private, nonprofit community partners that have the funding to meet their needs.

Eskamani said she’s concerned about the level of training and experience Hope Navigators have in processing eligibility forms and questions the program’s level of accountability.

But her worries are tempered by the fact that DCF must still use federal eligibility criteria and report on how the money is spent.

“The one positive is that because these are federal dollars there has to be some accountability,” she said.

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