NLIHC, National League of Cities, and Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment Host Webinar on “Keeping Renters Housed: Ensuring Equitable ERA Programs”

NLIHC, the National League of Cities, and Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment held a webinar on May 12 with key leaders from the Biden administration, elected officials, and policy experts. The webinar focused on the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program, new and improved guidance from the White House and Treasury Department, and examples of how cities have incorporated best practices to ensure funds reach the households most in need.

Clarence Anthony, National League of Cities CEO and executive director, provided opening remarks and held a discussion with Libby Schaaf, mayor of Oakland and co-chair of Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investment, and San Antonio Councilmember Rebecca Viagran about how they have addressed racial equity and incorporated best practices into the design and implementation of local ERA programs. Mayor Schaaf and Councilmember Viagran spoke about the importance of relying on trusted, community-based organizations, using self-attestation, and adapting their programs to ensure ERA reaches the lowest-income and most marginalized households.

Gene Sperling, White House American Rescue Plan coordinator and senior advisor to the president, and Noel Poyo, deputy assistant secretary for community economic development at the Department of the Treasury, spoke about the administration’s new ERA guidance, which includes major improvements to ensure these critical federal resources reach households with the greatest needs and are distributed equitably. NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel held an in-depth question and answer session with Noel Poyo to address questions about the new guidance submitted by NLIHC members, partners, and advocates across the country.

Gene Sperling noted that while many of the ERA improvements apply specifically to the second allocation of ERA funds, such as requiring programs to provide direct-to-tenant assistance when a landlord refuses to participate, the new guidance makes clear what the Biden administration considers necessary for ERA programs to serve renters most in need and to avoid violating civil rights laws. “The idea that we could have a program designed to keep people in their homes, the most vulnerable renters, and that some of them could face homelessness because their landlord chose not to participate, and there simply was not even an effort to see if they could go through the tenant,” stated Sperling, “that was just unacceptable.” He continued, “We found that we did have the authority to require that under ERA2, and so we put that down. We hope that sends a strong message for all of the programs that are funded by ERA,” said Gene Sperling. “Guidance doesn’t always say this is a 100% requirement, it strongly encourages. It tells people what the administration’s policy is and how money should be used. I think it has been made pretty clear in here that it is the policy of this administration not to close the books if a landlord refuses.”

In response to a question from Diane on whether undocumented households are eligible for ERA, Noel Poyo stated that there are no restrictions based on immigration status. “Neither the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, the law that produced ERA1, nor the American Rescue Plan, the law that produced ERA2, speak in the ERA sections to the question of documentation of people’s immigration status,” said Poyo. “There are a clear set of requirements for being qualified for this money. There has been a lot of discussion about what documentation is necessary for those qualifications, all laid out very clearly in the Treasury FAQs, and there is nothing in there about immigration status.”

“These dollars can be a pathway to people getting housed regardless of whether they have experienced an eviction, they have been living outside, or feel like they are going to have to move because they are under pressure where they are now,” Poyo stated in response to a question about whether people experiencing homelessness are eligible for ERA. “A person’s homeless status – whether they meet a federal homelessness guideline or what have you – is sort of neither here nor there, that is to say, is this an eligible household under the ERA, and do they have a rental obligation? Let’s focus on the regulatory space that we have here as opposed to other regulatory spaces, which might be more difficult to prove or require more documentation.”

Diane spoke about joint recommendations from NLIHC and NLC to elected officials on how communities can minimize obstacles, maximize uptake of rental aid, and ensure ERA is distributed equitably. Rebecca Yae, senior research analyst at NLIHC, provided an overview of NLIHC’s updated, more easily-searchable ERA database and new Treasury ERA Dashboard. Lauren Lowery, program director of housing and community development at NLC, discussed the importance of centering and embedding racial equity in this critical work, including by holding ourselves accountable to key racial equity performance metrics.

Watch a recording of the webinar “Keeping Renters Housed: Ensuring Equitable Emergency Rental Assistance Programs During the Pandemic” at: https://youtu.be/jxU9nEp8mf8  

Access the presentation slides at: https://tinyurl.com/49mnadxn