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Pathways fund has dispersed hundreds of payments; staff propose options to limit spending and preserve reserves
Summary
City staff reported Pathways assisted hundreds of households in FY24 and FY25 with direct rent and utility payments processed through a United Way partnership. Staff presented options — including lowering annual caps and narrowing eligibility — should disbursements outpace available funds.
City human services staff reported that Charlottesville’s Pathways fund has become a major eviction‑prevention tool and presented options to manage spending in FY26.
Misty Graves, director of the Department of Human Services, said staff routed direct disbursement work through United Way to accelerate payments. For FY24 the program processed more than 1,230 payments and in the current fiscal year to date staff said they had processed roughly 692 requests and disbursed about $500,000. The city’s FY26 proposal includes $1 million for Pathways operations and direct assistance, plus modest additional staffing costs.
Staff described current eligibility and caps: Pathways assists low- to moderate-income residents, or residents participating in federal programs such as TANF and SNAP, with arrears for rent, mortgage and utilities. Current per-request caps are $1,000, with an annual cap of $2,000 and a lifetime cap of $5,000. Staff said quarterly monitoring has sometimes shown the fund approaching depletion before the next revenue disbursement; staff used ARPA emergency housing dollars to increase the fund in the current year.
Why it matters: Councilors asked how many eligible requests are going unmet, whether the current caps are sufficient to prevent eviction in Charlottesville’s rental market, and whether case management capacity should be expanded. Councilors noted eviction prevention and case management will be increasingly important given possible federal policy changes.
Options presented: Staff proposed several mitigation steps if spending threatens to outpace revenue: cap annual assistance at $1,000 instead of $2,000; limit Pathways to rent and mortgage (excluding utilities) or prioritize the most vulnerable households; and strengthen referrals to other programs such as energy-assistance funds operated by Salvation Army. Staff said they could provide data showing the number of applicants who reached the current annual cap.
Ending: Staff said they will monitor spending weekly, provide projections and can return with additional data on unmet requests and case management outcomes to inform final FY26 decisions.
