LINCOLN- A once-controversial rent aid program has, to date, distributed around $11 million to eligible Nebraskans, leaving more than three-quarters of an originally allocated $48 million available following its launch last September. Besides a funding bottleneck at the beginning, administrators of the program are pleased with the rollout of the latest round of pandemic-related Nebraska Emergency Rental Assistance.

"We're pretty happy," said Shannon Harner, executive director of the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority, "The flow of getting funds out continues to speed up. That is also positive." According to Harner, the hiring of extra staff helped get the process to a better pace and allowed for the smoother disbursement of funds.

The funding, having been bucked by former Gov. and current U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts, was eventually accepted by Gov. Jim Pillen. By then, certain deadlines had been missed, so much of the original allocation to Nebraska was redirected to other states. State lawmakers had stepped in after Ricketts' refusal of the rental aid, but fell just one vote short of overriding the gubernatorial veto.

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