The Washington County General Assistance report was given by Renella Crawford of Hawkeye Area Community Action Program on Tuesday to the Supervisors.

Crawford stated that there hasn’t been much of an increase since the support guidelines were changed by the Supervisors, “If you look at the applications, we didn’t have much of an increase after raising the guidelines, but, I think we will this year because I’m seeing more and more people with needs.” 

The report stated that there were five applications in the fourth quarter and four were approved. Two applications were for funeral support funding, and one utilities, and one rent, for a total amount of $2,224 for assistance. 

Crawford brought up that a change in the language for rent assistance may be needed to be able to provide more support for individuals. Currently the amount of assistance that is offered for rent is a two-time payment for the year at $200. Crawford would like to be able to offer a one time assistance payment of $400 for individuals because most of the applicants are behind on rent by $800-$1000. 

The Supervisors are going to take this request into consideration once they are able to review the general assistance guidelines.