Entrepreneur partners with Walmart to disburse $25,000 for rent relief; helping 50 families

PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- Almost half of Philadelphia residents are renters and the need for relief amid COVID-19 has grown significantly, and job cuts have added extra pressure for families struggling during this pandemic.

Entrepreneur Ofo Ezeugwu partnered up with Walmart to disburse $25,000 for rent relief, to help 50 Philadelphia families amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

"With everything happening amidst COVID, in one of our meetings they were asking us to highlight issues that we're seeing they could help us address," said Ezeugwu. "And I was like 'look my company is in the housing space. We have a non-profit that's focused on the intersection between housing and mental health.'"

Ezeugwu, is the CEO and founder of Whose Your Landlord, a mobile platform that empowers and informs the rental community through landlord reviews, content listings and housing literacy.

"For us holistically, 32 percent of Americans didn't pay their rent or mortgages on July," said Ezeugwu. "And right now there's a lot of back and forth within terms of reserve eviction moratoriums being extended to December or not."

Ezeugwu says he is targeting his efforts toward Black households because they have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

Whose Your Landlord will randomly select 50 recipients by the end of August for September's rent.

This is one phase set from a bigger plan set in the nearby future for Black households that have been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

"We've seen a lot of larger organizations come out and give $100 million to support different causes," said Ezeugwu. "I think for us, it was $25,000 doesn't change everybody's lives, but for 50 families it can certainly be very helpful."

Households can apply for rent relief by visiting here.