Tenants struggling to complete an application for D.C.’s official rent and utility assistance program will soon be able to visit a clinic to get help.

Starting Aug. 3, attorneys and staff from D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine’s office will hold five in-person events to guide people through the lengthy and demanding STAY DC application process, which has been a barrier for some residents seeking help.

The new clinics are in addition to STAY DC pop-ups hosted by Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration. One pop-up takes place today at Anacostia High School.

“STAY DC is a critical program helping D.C. residents pay their rent and utility bills during these challenging times. But for many, the application process has been difficult,” Racine said in a statement.

STAY DC has only distributed about 20% of its funds to date. Tenants have been challenged by the program’s paperwork requirements and limited language accessibility since the $352 million program began accepting applications in April, according to Racine’s office.

The process has been so tough for some tenants that activists with the Cancel Rent D.C. Coalition are planning to erect a real-life obstacle course “that dramatizes the difficult hoops and hurdles that the program makes D.C. tenants jump through in order to stay in their homes,” the coalition announced Friday. The obstacle course will be set up Saturday afternoon at 4th and Franklin Streets NE during an event activists are calling a “Festival of Tenants.”

In a letter to D.C.’s Department of Human Services, which oversees STAY DC with the D.C. Department of Housing and Community Development, the nonprofit Council for Court Excellence called on DHS to improve non-English language accessibility on the STAY DC website. Currently, languages other than English are available on the site only via Google Translate, which often provides imprecise and confusing translations.

“For example: when translated in Spanish, the main page translates the title of ‘STAY DC’ into a literal command for the viewer to ‘stay’ in D.C. The Chinese translation provides a similar mistranslation and interprets ‘STAY DC’ as ‘Stay/Stop DC,'” the letter says.

“Encountering poor or limited translation services is likely to either frustrate and/or discourage [non-English speakers] from completing the application, or result in incorrect application submissions,” the letter adds.

The city is under pressure to distribute rent assistance funds as quickly as it can. If D.C. doesn’t disburse at least $130 million from the program before Sept. 30, it will have to return the money to the U.S. Treasury.

As the clock runs down, some landlords have pressed the D.C. Council to lift restrictions on eviction notices passed during the pandemic, saying tenants who receive a notice are more likely to apply for help. Under legislation the Council passed earlier this month, housing providers can begin sending notices Sept. 26— just a few days before the spending deadline.

Residents seeking aid from the program can determine their eligibility on the STAY DC website, and register for one of the clinics via this form. Walk-ins will also be accepted, but registering in advance guarantees that someone will be available to help, according to OAG. The mayor’s pop-up events also allow walk-ins, and some are conducted in Spanish.

The eligibility form for clinics staffed by OAG attorneys is available in several languages, but the registration form is in English only. It’s not clear whether staff at the clinics speak multiple languages.

Racine’s office has also provided a list of required documents for tenants to bring to the clinics. The extensive list includes proof of identification; proof of income loss, financial hardship, or homelessness; proof of income; a lease or other verification of tenancy; and proof of need for utility assistance, if applicable.

As of late June, STAY DC had received 25,765 applications from tenants and landlords, with 42 percent of them processed and paid out, according to data WAMU/DCist obtained through a FOIA request.