Bonus for Bucks, a countywide initiative designed to encourage landlords and real estate professionals to support low-income renters, has had its financial resources extended through July 2022. Emily Rizzo, WHYY, unlocked the details.

The program provides $2,000 — funded by the American CARES Act — to property owners who sign one-year leases to Bucks County Housing Link users. Further, it offers the same amount as a “finder’s fee” to real estate agents who refer landlords to Housing Link (a homelessness prevention group), payable upon a property’s eventual tenancy.

Bonus for Bucks has already connected with 12 landlords who have placed 30 people into rental units, according to Jeff Fields, Bucks County Director of Housing and Community Development.

Despite the encouraging response, Fields recognizes the challenges in serving this segment of the Bucks County population. Their rental applications are often marred by eviction histories and poor credit scores. Fields characterizes Bonus for Bucks as an opportunity for landlords to “…take a chance.”

In luring landlords, he is quick to cite the program’s success: “There’s a very low recidivism rate, which means once we place someone in housing, they are successful, they don’t return to homelessness.”

According to Southeastern Pennsylvania Legal Aid, about 2,000 eviction notices were filed in Bucks County in 2020, and almost 3,000 were filed in 2021.

In opening months of 2022, 860 have been filed.

More on Bonus for Bucks (and other county responses to homelessness) is at WHYY.