COVID-19

Princeton University’s Eviction Lab published a new report finding that at least 1.36 million eviction cases were avoided last year from the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) from the American Rescue Plan.

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) this week released a report calling on government agencies, including the Department of the Treasury, to improve oversight of COVID relief funding.

Treasury released new data on the first round of reallocation of Emergency Rental Assistance authorized under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 (ERA 1).

The deadline to submit COVID-19 Supplemental Payment reimbursement requests to HUD or the Contract Administrator is November 19.

Last week, the Department of the Treasury announced state and local governments distributed nearly $2.8 billion from the Emergency Rental Assistance program to more than 510,000 households in September, up from 459,000 households in August.

HUD published an interim final rule, which prohibits the eviction of tenants for nonpayment of rent from HUD-subsidized public housing and certain properties with PBRA without providing a 30-day notice period that includes information about available federal emergency rental assistance.

The Department of the Treasury published new guidance outlining the process for reallocating Emergency Rental Assistance funds.

Last week, the House Financial Services Committee reported a marked-up Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act of 2021 (H.R. 5196) to the House, which, if enacted, would make significant changes to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP).

The House Financial Services Committee completed their work on Tuesday and sent their portion of the bill to the House floor with a 30-24 party-line vote. The committee voted down all of the amendments offered by Republicans.  

The National Council of State Housing Agencies, along with other major national organizations representing Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) grantees sent a letter to House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) providing recommendations on amending the ERA program to eliminate statutory barriers in administration and expedite the provision of assistance to eligible households.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) convened a special session of the New York state legislature, which then voted to extend the eviction moratorium until Jan. 15, 2022 and implement certain changes to the moratorium to address two recent Supreme Court decisions that blocked portions of the State’s moratorium and the larger Federal moratorium. 

A leaked report from Goldman Sachs released Sunday estimates that about 750,000 households could face eviction later this year unless Congress acts or rental assistance funds are distributed more quickly.