Palm Beach County Community Services Department Housing Counseling Services

About the Program

Category: Human Services (Best in Category)

Year: 2023

The impact of the COVID 19 pandemic and the subsequent response, continued throughout 2021 and 2022. Since 2020, the demand for Palm Beach County Community Services Department (CSD) rental and utility assistance remained enormous. Palm Beach County government distributed over $38 million in federal pandemic funding in 2021-2022, 7-8 times the typical annual amount. Anticipating the imminent reduction of pandemic funding, CSD began to consider various strategies to curtail the demand for assistance. One strategy was to implement a Housing Counseling program. The program was for client households suffering negative financial impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly among clients who had a high utilization of services. Housing Counseling Services were intended to assist in the stabilization of client housing situations and prevent evictions.