Emergency Rental Assistance

Virginia has distributed 53% of Emergency Rental Assistance after requiring landlords to apply for the aid before evicting. As a whole, the South is lagging with only 22% of funds distributed compared to 26% outside the South.

Percent of Emergency Rental Assistance funds distributed

Jan 1 - Aug 31, 2021

Source: U.S. Department of the Treasury. Notes: Assistance to households is the total dollar amount of ERA1 and ERA2 award funds paid to or for households including payments for rent, rental arrears, utility/home energy costs, utility/home energy arrears, and other eligible expenses. This does not include funds paid for Housing Stability Services. "Percent distributed" is calculated as the sum of assistance to households divided by 90% of the ERA1 and ERA2 allocation amount.

The December Stimulus bill (ERA) and the March American Rescue Plan (ERA2) include a combined $45 billion in rental assistance. But this assistance is being doled out through hundreds of state and local emergency rental assistance programs that vary greatly. Many places have been slow to distribute this critical aid.

Some states and localities have increased their distribution rate by reducing documentation burdens for accessing this aid. In August, 420,600 households received ERA funding, up from just 157,400 households in May.¹ But by the end of August, when the Supreme Court allowed evictions to resume, only 25% of the funding had been distributed nationwide.² Virginia had distributed more than half its ERA and ERA2 funding, in part due to a law that requires landlords to first apply for the aid before evicting renters.³ As a region, Southern states have lagged the rest of the nation with only 22% of funds distributed compared to 26% elsewhere. In late September, more than 1 in 3 Southerners late on rent or mortgage were concerned about losing their homes (Likelihood of Eviction or Foreclosure).

1. “More than 420,000 Households Received Emergency Rental Assistance in August, Totaling Over $2.3 Billion in Payments”. U.S. Department of the Treasury. September, 2021. https://home.treasury.gov/news/featured-stories/more-than-420000-households-received-emergency-rental-assistance-in-august-totaling-over-2.3-billion-in-payments

2. “Supreme Court allows evictions to resume during pandemic”. Sherman. KATV. August, 2021. https://katv.com/news/nation-world/supreme-court-allows-evictions-to-resume-during-pandemic-08-27-2021-015914239

3. “Virginia leads nation in distribution of federal rent relief”. Oliver. Virginia Mercury. September, 2021. https://www.virginiamercury.com/2021/09/07/virginia-leads-nation-in-distribution-of-federal-rent-relief/