Emergency Financial Assistance consists of providing limited one-time or short-term payments to agencies or establishing voucher programs to assist with an emergency need for paying for essential utilities, housing, food (includes groceries and food vouchers), transportation, and medication when other resources are not available.

Emergency Financial Assistance may be used for the following expenses, only when…

1. Other sources of funding cannot be found, and
2. The financial need is critical (i.e. housing or utilities are in danger of being lost as a result of non-payment):

Housing, including:

• Rental deposits
• Motels and hotels, especially when needed for medical reasons
• Utilities as needed to maintain housing, including: PG&E or other gas/electric provider
• EBMUD or other water and sewer provider
• Garbage collection
• Food, in the form of food bank access or grocery vouchers  (When provided, vouchers must be approved prior to distribution by case managers
• Dental care
• Transportation