East Baton Rouge Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP)

In 2020, the U.S. Department of the Treasury Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) made available $25 billion to assist households unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath. ERAP provided emergency rental assistance to income-eligible individuals and families that were economically impacted during the pandemic.

East Baton Rouge received a share of this federal funding for this purpose. Franklin assisted in program strategy development and initiation for the program and deployed a call center/customer service team to provide person-to-person engagement throughout the process via our in-house call center. The customer service team developed talking points and processes to escalate and navigate eviction-endangered residents’ issues swiftly to avoid increased homelessness in our region.

Franklin’s ERAP call center agents provided full-time customer service support for the program using a dedicated phone number that provided customers with the ability to obtain service through text and email as well. Franklin agents managed applicant intake processes, provided applicants with information regarding eligibility documents, and uploaded applicant documentation. The call center also offered in-person assistance to help renters complete and upload documents on a case-by-case basis. Agents assisted and collaborated with the case management team on applicant relations and provided case status updates.  

At the height of our support for this program, we employed over a dozen full-time call center agents capable of fielding up to 765 calls daily, and over the 11-month peak period, agents fielded nearly 193,000 calls. Due in part to our team’s efforts, over $53 million in assistance was provided to 10,460 residents to avoid eviction.