The state of Montana is set to return $53 million in unused federal funding left over from the $200 million COVID-era bucket of money.

The funds were largely used for rental assistance.

“We anticipated serving somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 households across the state, for an average award of about $5,600. And now, about a year into administering the program, we've now exceeded what we expected, with $57 million distributed throughout the state and the average household award closer to $7,500,” said Cheryl Cohen, housing division administrator with the Department of Commerce.

One of the major reasons that the state is returning this amount is because the original allotment of cash did not take into consideration the data for Montana. The lesser populated state leads to fewer people that can receive the funding.

“When the U.S. Congress made these allocations originally, they didn't take into account a lot of relevant factors and the amount of funds that were allocated to small population states,” said Cohen. “It really wasn't grounded in the data on the ground.”

The Commerce Department says they did try to reallocate funding, but it is not very flexible on where it can be spent. However, to-date the state has been able to push money out to the thousands of people who applied for rental assistance.

The number of $53 million to return seems large, but officials say Montana is in a good place when it comes to rent debts in the country.

Funds end in September. But there is another bucket of money that the state is starting to tap into.

“We've shifted over to start using the second bucket of money, which actually is more flexible. It can help people that are having a financial hardship during the pandemic,” said Cohen.

There is $60 million available and it is much more flexible, so the goal is to bring funds to more Montanans.

The return of the unspent funds does not mean these types of programs have ended. Officials say that the state is working on another outreach campaign to make eligible Montanans aware that help is available with ERA 2 funds. This outreach will be done through social media and more.

The state has partnered with entities like the Montana Legal Services Association on initiatives like the Montana Eviction Intervention Project, a program that provides civil legal assistance for Montanans facing evictions as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Information on ARPA funding and where it has been spent is available here.