Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) — Community Crisis Support (Sonoma CAN)

The Emergency Food and Shelter Program (EFSP) provides Sonoma County residents with one month of assistance in rent, mortgage, or a utility bill if they have verifiable COVID-19 related impact as of January 2023. It is not a recurring program — households can only apply one time, and cannot apply for multiple services (e.g. not both rent and utilities). For rental/mortgage assistance, only one month of past, current, or first month's rent can be covered. For utility assistance, only a one-month billed amount of a metered (gas, electric, water, sewer) or non-metered (propane or firewood) utility bill can be covered; non-metered is limited to one delivery per household and cannot be paid in advance. Requirements: Sonoma County residency, the applicant's name on the bills or lease, and proof of recent COVID impact that caused the financial setback. EFSP sits inside CAP Sonoma's Community Crisis Support department, which grew out of the Disaster Relief Housing Assistance Fund created after the October 2017 wildfires.

Fill out an intake through the online kiosk and upload identification documents, the full rental lease, and pay stubs from the past two months. A CAP staff member then contacts the applicant for the second part of the application, which requires proof of COVID-19 impact and a utility or mortgage bill statement. All payments are made directly to the landlord, mortgage loan representative, or utility vendor.