National Updates
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
The CDC updated its interim guidance for people experiencing unsheltered homelessness. The changes include revised quarantine and isolation guidance for people experiencing homelessness and new recommendations for people who are up to date on COVID-19 vaccinations.
Advocacy & Research
An article in Urban Institute’s Housing Matters outlines how non-congregate shelters and comprehensive homeless services can better protect people experiencing homelessness during and beyond the pandemic. Communities can employ new approaches to ending homelessness, informed by lessons learned during the initial surge of the pandemic. In particular, communities should prioritize housing and homelessness in funding decisions, provide non-congregate shelter that advances safety and service engagement, and support families at risk of homelessness to prevent an influx that further burdens the system.
Reporting
ABC News examines how the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the affordable housing crisis across the country, plunging many low-income individuals and families into a spiral of financial strife. For low-income Americans, any expense – due, for example, to a hospital visit, car repair, or a bout of COVID-19 that prevents them from working – could be the difference between having a place to live and homelessness. The article cites NLIHC’s The Gap report, which estimates that nationwide, only 37 affordable rental units are available for every 100 extremely low-income renters.
Route Fifty explains why some states have exhausted federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) funds and others have millions of dollars in ERA funds left over. The article highlights a letter sent by NLIHC to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on February 2. “An inequitable initial allocation formula, the slow redistribution of funds, and delays in the disbursement of obligated funds are creating critical gaps in the emergency rental assistance (ERA) program that must be immediately addressed by the U.S. Department of the Treasury,” wrote NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in the letter.
State and Local News
Alaska
More than 60,000 individuals in Alaska have received federal rental assistance, according to Alaska Housing Rent Relief’s weekly program update. Alaska Housing’s partners have provided more than $240 million in assistance to landlords and utility companies.
Arizona
The number of Arizonans fearing eviction has increased sharply since an eviction moratorium ended in September 2021, while advocates are claiming federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) funds have not reached tenants fast enough. Sonya Acosta, a policy analyst with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, noted that prior to the pandemic, state and local agencies did not have the infrastructure in place to accelerate the distribution of ERA. Housing advocacy groups are focusing on establishing long-term assistance that will extend past the end of the pandemic.
Connecticut
Courts across Connecticut saw a surge of eviction filings after the COVID-19 eviction moratoriums expired last year. Legal aid advocates statewide say tenants are making every effort to pay their rent, but landlords are still choosing to file evictions. The state’s emergency rental assistance program, UniteCT, recently stopped accepting applications. However, free legal aid for tenants facing eviction was made available after Connecticut launched its Right to Counsel Program in January 2022.
Iowa
According to the Des Moines Register, Representative Cindy Axne (R-IA) sent a letter to U.S. Department of the Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the department to approve Iowa’s request to transfer $35 million in unspent emergency rental assistance (ERA) funds to Polk County, the state’s most populous county. After distributing $47 million in ERA funds, the county has exhausted its allocation, even while there remains a great need for assistance.
Maryland
The Baltimore Sun reports that Baltimore plans to use $90.4 million in federal funding – drawn largely from the city’s $641 million in COVID-19 relief money – to create emergency housing and other housing assistance programs. The city will focus on transforming its homelessness programs by moving away from group shelters and increasing non-congregate shelter options. Baltimore will also use the funds to accelerate slow-moving processes in the city’s homeless response system, implement new housing navigation strategies, and develop landlord incentives.
Nebraska
Housing organizations across Nebraska are urging Governor Pete Ricketts to accept $120 million in federal emergency rental assistance funds, highlighting the undeniable need for aid in the state.
New Jersey
Somerset County announced a partnership with the Somerset County Public Library System to conduct outreach about its Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The county has hired six ERAP educators to be placed in libraries throughout the county to provide information on the program and help residents apply. Residents can make appointments with an ERAP educator by visiting the Somerset County Library System website at sclsnj.org/erap
New York
As evictions rise in Syracuse, $750,000 in emergency rental assistance (ERA) funds remain available. Though the city’s funds remain mostly untouched, Onondaga County and New York State have run out of federal ERA funds. Syracuse set aside the $750,000 to help people who would not be eligible for county or state funds because their incomes were too high.
Advocates protested in Midtown Manhattan to demand that Governor Kathy Hochul devote more resources to emergency rental assistance (ERA), as many New York City tenants are facing eviction and the state’s ERA program has run out of funding.
Ohio
Legal aid advocates in Franklin County are seeing growing numbers of evictions being scheduled and filed. Columbus has no Right to Cure, which allows tenants to compel landlords to accept back rent. According to the landlord-renter contract in Ohio, landlords can evict tenants even after collecting back rent or correcting other measures in the lease.
North Carolina
Evictions loom for Wake County tenants as they await aid through House Wake, the county’s emergency rental assistance (ERA) program. Many tenants and landlords are frustrated and concerned about the program’s lack of communication and slow application processing times. House Wake has attributed the delays to a staffing shortage and notes that the program has recently hired more support staff to review applications.
Oregon
The Oregonian reports that a grace period approved by state legislators for rent that was unpaid between April 2020 and June 2021 expires at the end of the month, opening the door for a possible surge of evictions. Renters with unpaid rent from that period can still be temporarily protected from eviction if they show proof of a pending application for aid through the Oregon Emergency Rental Assistance Program. However, the program is expected to run out of funds soon. Of the nearly 75,000 Oregonians who have applied for assistance, just under 40,000 have received funds from the state as of February 16.
Texas
Roughly 4,000 families in San Antonio are at risk of losing their homes when an eviction moratorium covering San Antonio Housing Authority (SAHA) residents expires on February 28. The city’s Emergency Housing Assistance Program (EHAP) will stop accepting applications on this day, but the Neighborhood and Housing Services Department (NHSD) says an additional $3.8 million in federal funding and $10 million in local recovery funds will be made available through the new Housing Assistance Program. Applicants must prove they were impacted by COVID-19 to receive assistance through EHAP, but the new program includes no such requirement.
The Austin-American Statesman reports that Hays County hired a new program manager to take over operation of the emergency rental assistance (ERA) program. The decision comes one month after the previous program manager resigned and days after the county announced it would have to return $1.7 million in federal ERA funds on top of the $773,000 already recaptured by the government in December 2021.
Virginia
Despite high vaccination rates and strict COVID-19 safety protocols, Arlington County’s largest homeless shelter for adults, PathForward, experienced an outbreak of the Omicron variant. According to the Washington Post, PathForward moved approximately 100 residents into motel rooms to contain the outbreak. The organization is now moving residents back to the congregate shelter.
Washington
The Seattle City Council rejected on February 22 a proposal by Councilmember Kshama Sawant to extend the citywide eviction moratorium through the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency. The council also rejected a proposal to extend the moratorium to April 30 to allow officials to consider alternative measures for tenants.
Guidance
Department of Housing and Urban Development