The City of Irvine is introducing a rental assistance program that will reimburse landlords for up to 80 percent of past due rent to compensate for missed payments during the COVID-19 pandemic. The federally-funded program, called the Irvine Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP), differs from Orange County’s $66 million rental assistance program, which began Feb. 1. Irvine received direct allocations of $16.8 million from the federal government and will use the funds to enact its own plan, a city spokesperson said Feb. 16. “This is separate from the funding the county received and they are two separate programs,” Kristina Perrigoue told The Epoch Times. “The direct funding from the Department of Treasury was based upon a population threshold of over 200,000, which Irvine qualifies for.” Anaheim and Santa Ana also received funding to create their own rental assistance programs. To help facilitate the program, Irvine has partnered with Orange County United Way; the application period will be announced soon. “Landlords …