Drake Hotel fire victims receive rent assistance amid COVID-19 pandemic

(FOX 9) - Pillsbury United Communities, the Twin Cities-based nonprofit, is helping victims of the Drake Hotel fire afford rent as the COVID-19 pandemic puts a strain on families across Minnesota.

The organization will be applying $500 in rental assistance to each household for May's rent from the remaining Drake Assistance Funds. The funds will only go to those who currently have a permanent residence, and it will only go towards rent.

Back in December, a fire at the Drake Hotel in Minneapolis displaced about 250 people, many of whom had no other place to live because the building served as homeless overflow for Hennepin County.

An investigation determined that the fire broke out in a second floor apartment, but authorities couldn’t specifically identify a cause because of the amount of damage. The building has since been torn down.