ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — Orange County closed the application portal for its Individual and Family Assistance Program for the final time Thursday morning, after re-opening the portal and receiving 10,000 applications – the maximum amount – in under an hour. 

The program is funded in part by the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund (CRF), established by the CARES Act in late March. The CRF funneled $150 billion in assistance to state, local and tribal governments. 

Under current CRF requirements, local governments must finish spending their designated funds by December 30. 

Orange County received $243.2 million directly from the federal government, as well as an additional $9.2 million distributed to the county from the CRF via the state’s housing finance agency, Florida Housing Finance Corporation. That smaller amount designated by the state went toward the county’s eviction diversion program, which also closed to applicants this week.

Any remaining CRF balance in local and state governments will ultimately go back to the federal government — although Florida Housing Finance Corporation executive director Trey Price is optimistic that it won’t be a huge issue in Florida.

“If that money can’t get spent, it’s likely to either go back to the state, where it will likely be allocated in other areas, and then ultimately — and I think this is less likely — back to the U.S. Treasury,” Price said. “But I think the state will likely allocate all that money before the deadline, and we’ll try to return as little money as possible to the Treasury.” 

As of Thursday morning before the portal opened, Orange County said it had already issued $52 million of the $65 million in its Individual and Family Assistance Program. 

“The number of approved applications will increase the amount spent as payment is issued,” Senior Public Information Office Despina McLaughlin wrote to Spectrum News 13 in an email.

The county also said it had spent or committed over $7.5 million of the money in its eviction diversion program as of Thursday morning. Applications were still being processed and the program’s administrative costs had not been fully factored in, leading county officials to predict they would ultimately end up spending 99% of the money.

Price said local governments in Florida had “largely stepped up to the plate” and done a great job distributing CRF monies in a very short amount of time. He attributed that in part to Florida’s pre-existing infrastructure of housing assistance offices in counties and certain cities throughout the state.

“We weren’t starting from scratch,” Price said.

Florida’s attorney general Ashley Moody recently joined 48 other Attorneys General in signing a group letter to federal lawmakers, asking them to extend the deadline to expend CRF monies by at least one year. 

“Everything is set to expire. We’re not sure what Congress is going to do, if they’re going to extend anything,” Price said. “And this money runs out, along with a moratorium on evictions, at the end of the year.”

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering Affordable Housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.