Emergency Rental Assistance

Only 49% of Emergency Rental Assistance funds have been distributed to renters across the South, compared to 59% in non-Southern states.

Percent of Emergency Rental Assistance funds distributed

Jan 1, 2021 - Feb 28, 2022

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 2020 stimulus bill and the March 2021 American Rescue Plan (ARP) include a combined $45 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds, and a portion of these funds can be used for housing counseling and eviction diversion programs.¹ This, plus a surge of volunteer legal assistance from 99 law schools across the country, have been credited with keeping eviction filings low, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling against the eviction moratorium in August 2021.²

Grantees who fail to spend 50% of their ERA allotment may find some of their funds reallocated to ensure all funds are spent by September 2022. Kentucky and Virginia increased their distribution of ERA funds by reducing documentation burdens for accessing this aid.³ But many Southern states are lagging including WV where only 20% of ERA funds have been spent, GA and TN only 25%, and AL only 27%. States and localities that are quickly expending their ERA allotment may use flexible ARP funds to provide additional rental relief, and this may trigger additional allocations of ERA funds.1 In other states, like Texas, landlords who received the rental relief, illegally evicted their tenants anyway, without prosecution.⁴

1. “Treasury Announces $30 Billion in Emergency Rental Assistance Spent or Obligated with Over 4.7 Million Payments Made to Households Through February 2022”. U.S. Department of the Treasury. March, 2022. https://home.treasury.gov/news/press-releases/jy0688

2. “How an eviction prevention program emerged after the moratorium ended”. Govindarao. ABC News. April, 2022. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/eviction-prevention-program-emerged-moratorium-ended/story?id=83922544

3. “After Slow Start, U.S. States Spend Billions in Emergency Rent Relief”. Yee. Bloomberg. March, 2022. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-22/how-the-race-to-deliver-emergency-rental-aid-was-won

4. “Some landlords got a piece of Texas’ $2 billion in rent relief money – and evicted their struggling tenants anyway”. Fechter. The Texas Tribune. April, 2022. https://www.texastribune.org/2022/04/08/texas-landlords-rent-relief-evictions/