“People are strangling on the red tape.”

Sandy Gillis, executive director of the Hilton Head Deep Well Project, regarding the bureaucratic hurdles that have impeded the ability of many states to distribute federal rental relief funds. The project has stopped referring tenants to the program and has instead started paying overdue rent bills through its own private funding. South Carolina had distributed only 6 percent of its funds as of Aug. 20. (Associated Press — August 29, 2021)