Juneau City Hall. The City and Borough of Juneau has distributed nearly $5 million in household and individual assistance grants since October. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

Juneau City Hall. The City and Borough of Juneau has distributed nearly $5 million in household and individual assistance grants since October. (Peter Segall / Juneau Empire)

All housing and most personal assistance grants processed

About $5 million in aid is flowing to households and individuals in Juneau.

Nearly $5 million in grants for households and individuals have been distributed by the City and Borough of Juneau as part of its Household Assistance and Individual Assistance programs.

The federal CARES Act-funded programs went live in October and December, respectively. Both programs got nearly twice the number of expected applicants, said the city’s finance director.

“I would guess that we expected to get half as many as we expected to get. CBJ has never operated a public assistance program. As a municipality we don’t really have the tools to understand what we needed to know for a public assistance program,” said Jeff Rogers in a phone interview. “Alternately, it may be possible that there’s really an extraordinary amount of need in the community.”

The applications were reviewed by Catholic Community Services. More than 900 people applied for the individual assistance program on the first day, said Erin Walker-Tolles, executive director of CCS, in a phone interview. The program eventually received more than 2,800 applications, Walker-Tolles said.

[Finally, something to stout about: AK Beer Month is here]

“For the individual assistance, we’re finding that 97% of the people who applied are eligible,” Walker-Tolles said. “We should have enough money to give benefits to everyone who applied on the first day. We are going to run out of funds.”

For the housing assistance, 1,108 households received funding, according to a CBJ news release. The average amount of aid received was $2,708.

“CCS was hit by much greater demand than expected for the housing program and then by much greater demand for the individual assistance program. I think a lot of staff at CCS worked right up to Christmas,” Rogers said. “CCS sends us a list of awardees, and then we make the checks out. That takes about 10 days to get the checks out.”

Checks are currently being mailed for most individual grant recipients. Almost all of the housing grant recipients have received their money, Rogers said. Rogers said he’s unsure if there will be more funding for the housing or individual assistance grants, or what the assembly would do with more aid.

“The Assembly will have to wrestle with that. It’s hard to know because we have no idea how much money there will be,” Rogers said. “Without knowing how much we’d get and what the criteria might be, it’s hard to say.”

The city learned a number of lessons from the process. There were some organizational structures that might have served better in retrospect, Rogers said, but retrospect is always 20/20.

“We did what we had to do,” Rogers said. “We did what we thought was right at the moment. But we operated with very little information.”

The lessons learned from the housing assistance program helped CCS avoid the worst goofs for the individual assistance program, Walker-Tolles said.

“We learned a lot of lessons from the housing program. It made the individual program easier, we included a lot more instructions,” Walker-Tolles said. “We had no prep time. The city just asked us, ‘Can you do this?’ and we said, ‘Sure.’”

Updates on your application

The CCS website posts semi-regular updates on the status of applications at www.ccsak.org. Those who have been approved for assistance are notified by email and can expect checks in the mail within 2-3 weeks. 604 individuals had been approved as of Thursday evening, and roughly 60% of the grant money has been issued.

• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.

More in News

KTOO, Juneau's public radio station, is photographed in Juneau, Alaska, on Friday, July 11, 2025. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Peninsula Clarion)
Public radio facing cuts as Congress moves to pull back funding

KTOO could lose one-third of its budget if the House passes a bill cutting funding for the Corporation of Public Broadcasting

Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire file photo
The Norwegian Bliss arrives in Juneau on Monday, April 14.
Ships in port for the week of July 19

This information comes from the Cruise Line Agencies of Alaska’s 2025 schedule.… Continue reading

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Thursday, July 17, 2025

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

Eaglecrest Ski Area. (Ben Hohenstatt | Juneau Empire File)
Hiker rescued from gully at Eaglecrest

The woman got stuck in a gully after taking a wrong turn

(Michael Penn / Juneau Empire file photo)
Police calls for Wednesday, July 16, 2025

This report contains public information from law enforcement and public safety agencies.

The Dimond Courthouse in Juneau, Alaska, is seen in this undated photo. (Michael S. Lockett / Juneau Empire file)
Juneau man pleads guilty to murder of infant

James White pleaded guilty yesterday to the murder of 5-and-half-week-old Kathy White

U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Megan Dean shakes hands with the new Arctic District commander Rear Admiral Bob Little on Friday. Vice Admiral Andrew J. Tiongson, commander of the Pacific Area, smiles. (Jasz Garrett / Juneau Empire)
US Coast Guard receives new commander, new name for Alaska

The Arctic District’s new icebreaker will visit Juneau next month

City and Borough of Juneau City Hall is photographed on July 12, 2025, in Juneau, Alaska. (Photo by Erin Thompson/Juneau Empire file)
Municipal election candidate filing period opens July 18

The filing period runs from July 18 at 8 a.m. to July 28 at 4:30 p.m.

The Mendenhall River roars more than 13 feet above normal levels in August 2023. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Suicide Basin predicted to fill by Aug. 8

The change in the prediction of when the basin will fill was based on heavy rain last week

Most Read