SARANAC LAKE — A local housing group will be starting up the “Franklin County Rental Assistance Fund” to help low- to middle-class renters with their monthly housing bills.

Adirondack Housing Development Corporation CEO Patrick Murphy said the nonprofit recently got a $1.25 million grant with $825,000 earmarked for rental assistance for people earning up to 80% of the Area Median Income.

AMI for Franklin County is $82,100. Eighty percent of AMI for a family of four is $70,800. For a family of two, it’s $56,650.

“Too many working families, seniors and individuals earn just enough to be excluded from traditional rental assistance programs, yet still cannot afford market rents,” Murphy said. “This program is designed to reach those households and provide real, immediate stability.”

There are rental assistance voucher programs for people earning up to 50% AMI with the Section 8 housing program, but this new fund is broader, for people with higher incomes who don’t qualify for the Section 8 program, but are burdened by the cost of housing.

Traditionally, common knowledge is that no more than 30% of a household’s gross income should be spent on housing. This rule is much harder to follow nowadays. Murphy said around 40% of local renters are spending more than that.

If a low-income household is able to find a low-rent apartment, the fund could potentially cover most of the rent.

Murphy said this fund should support 100 households for two-and-a-half years. Currently, Harrietstown Housing Authority serves 115 households through its Section 8 voucher program.

Another $200,000 of the grant is earmarked for first-month and security deposit assistance. It takes a lot of up-front money to start renting, Murphy said.

The program works by splitting the cost of rent between the fund and the renter.

Murphy said the renter’s share of the monthly payment can’t be more than 30% of their income. This ensures they’re not overpaying for a private rental and “helping them with their price gouge.”

The money from the fund goes to the landlord directly.

Murphy said some landlords are willing to lower their rent slightly for applicants to be able to qualify for the voucher, because it gives them a guaranteed tenant and guaranteed rent payment from the housing authority.

AHDC will administer the program in partnership with the HHA, which Murphy is also CEO of, and the Franklin County Community Housing Council. These groups can be found at harrietstownha.org and tinyurl.com/369nycjj.

HHA will handle Harrietstown and FCCHC will handle the rest of the county.

The grant money comes from the federal HUD’s “HOME” program, which was distributed to the state HUD, then to the Adirondack Housing Development Corporation and then to renters.

Murphy said it is going to take three to four months before the program starts. If people want to apply for it early, he said, they can apply for the Section 8 voucher program. This program currently has a waiting list. Murphy said being on a waiting list will not guarantee earlier access to the fund when it starts, but that they will use the wait lists to find qualified households.

The lists can be long. Murphy said, countywide, there are around 1,830 people on wait lists, though some of these could be duplicates between Harrietstown and the wider county lists.

There are 5,542 total renters in Franklin County, he said.

HUD’s fair market rent rate for a studio apartment in Franklin County is $674, $824 for a one-bedroom apartment and up to $1,430 for a four-bedroom apartment. Fair market rate is not the same as “market rate.” Market rate is the price apartments actually rent for.

Murphy said a one-bedroom apartment in town could be $1,500 per month easily.

“According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a household must earn $39,320 annually to afford a modest two-bedroom apartment at fair market rent, yet the median renter income is only $36,157,” the grant application states. “Data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that 41.6% of renters are cost-burdened, paying more than 30% of their income toward rent.”

For nearly one-third of renters, 35% or more of their income goes toward rent.

He also said 44% of Franklin County residents qualify as low- or moderate-income.

Murphy said there’s a huge need for the 50%-80% AMI demographic in terms of rental assistance.

Fifty percent of AMI for a family of four is $44,250. For a family of two, it’s $35,400.

To afford family-sized apartments at these incomes requires having two parents working, Murphy. He said there are many one-parent earner households in the area.

Murphy said he’s worried the federal Section 8 funding might be cut. The White House has proposed cutting this rental assistance by 43%. If such cuts do happen, he said, this money could be a stopgap.

He hopes that this fund will be able to get more financial support, to continue on for years after this two-and-a-half-year grant runs out.