A new rental relief fund, established by the Permanent Endowment for Martha’s Vineyard, aims to assist Island tenants who are suddenly unable to meet their rent payments due to the coronavirus pandemic.

This program is different from the ongoing rental assistance program and will target Island renters who typically are not eligible for assistance and generally don’t seek it, according to an announcement from the Permanent Endowment.

Donations to the fund will be used by the Dukes County Regional Housing Authority to help these tenants make their payments. As a chartered municipal body, the housing authority is prohibited from directly asking for support from private donors, according to the announcement.

The Permanent Endowment contributed $10,000 in seed money to the rental relief fund, an offshoot of the endowment’s recently-established Emergency Response Fund, which has awarded more than $90,000 in grants to Island nonprofits in recent weeks.

A direct link to the program description and application for rental relief can be found at: https://dcrha.files.wordpress.com/2020/04/dcrha-errp-progam-application.pdf