The State of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs (DCA) announced in June the launch of a statewide eviction diversion and intervention program to support low-income renters facing the threat of eviction, as the state’s pandemic-era tenant protections expire and rent and utility arrearages among residents rise above average national levels.
The Comprehensive Eviction Defense and Diversion (CEDD) program, which will be available in each of the state’s 15 court districts, will help to keep renters stably housed by providing tenants with no-cost housing support services and financial support. Under the CEDD program, tenants will have access to caseworkers, known as resource navigators, who are trained in addressing housing insecurity and preventing housing displacement. Caseworkers, who will have experience in crisis intervention techniques, will assist tenants by providing relocation and rapid rehousing support, social services support, and rental assistance resources support. Additionally, tenants will be able to access financial support from the CEDD program to cover expenses related to eviction-related emergencies, including help with past due rent, relocation expenses, and legal services.
The CEDD program builds upon already existing statewide eviction diversion and legal support programs created during the COVID-19 pandemic to support low-income renter households. One of the programs expanded upon by CEDD is the Eviction Diversion Initiative (EDI). The EDI, known also as the Rental Assistance Navigation Program, was launched in 2021 by the Department of Community Affairs as one of the state’s several eviction diversion initiatives created to address the negative impacts of the pandemic and its effect on housing. When launched, the intent of the EDI program was to assist tenants facing the threat of eviction by providing help navigating the eviction and court process.
The Eviction Diversion Initiative, which was funded with statewide emergency rental assistance funds, provided tenants with help applying for rental and utility assistance, as well as with housing mediation and counseling services, support accessing legal services, and financial assistance to cover past due rental arrears. In the single year during which the state’s Eviction Diversion Initiative was running, the program was able to provide wraparound and personalized housing services to more than 3,000 households.
New Jersey also drew upon core components of DCA’s Expanded Access to Counsel and Homelessness Diversion Anti-Eviction Pilot Program, which provided legal services and emergency grants to tenants facing eviction in three of the state’s cities: Atlantic City, East Orange, and Trenton. The Expanded Access to Counsel and Homelessness Diversion Anti-Eviction Pilot Program was able to assist more than 1,000 households between 2021 and 2022 – the two years the program was running. As a result of both programs, 86% of renter households who utilized services were able to avoid eviction and remain in their homes.
Utilizing the services of both programs were many single mothers, who were assisted at twice the rate as men who sought out support from the program. Additionally, Black households were served at a rate nearly three times higher than white households. Households who sought out support from the DCA’s eviction prevention programs, moreover, were reported to have a median household income of less than $25,000.
Evictions disproportionately impact low-income and marginalized renter groups. Even prior to the pandemic, Black households in the U.S. were two times more likely than white households to face the threat of eviction. In the early months of the pandemic, Black renter households were the most likely racial group to be behind on rent, with more than half of Black and Hispanic renter households reporting having already been cost burdened by their rent when the pandemic began. According to NLIHC’s Out of Reach report, a renter is considered cost-burdened by their rent when they pay more than 30% of their monthly income towards rent.
Building upon the successes of both of these programs, as well as advocacy efforts conducted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fund eviction diversion programs over the long-term, the CEDD program was created in January 2023. After adopting an application process to select social service agencies and legal service providers, the DCA chose 13 nonprofit organizations and three legal service offices in the state to help oversee the implementation of the program. Additionally, the CEDD program will have 48 resource navigators available to help tenants – an increase from the 28 navigators that were available under the EDI in 2021.
The state’s CEDD program will be funded using “American Rescue Plan Act” (ARPA) dollars, with an initial allocation of $7.4 million dollars going towards the implementation of the program. Currently, the Department of Community Affairs reports that it will be able to assist more than 15,000 households through the CEDD program.
More information about the CEDD program can be found here.