NLIHC released today a set of case studies highlighting the successes of five members of the 2021-2022 End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE) cohort: Connecticut Fair Housing Coalition, Idaho Asset Building Network, Prosperity Indiana, Keep Detroiters in the Their Homes Coalition, and Hope Policy Institute & Mississippi NAACP.
The case studies overview the activities undertaken by cohort members to ensure that emergency rental assistance (ERA) was visible and accessible to the lowest-income households in their communities and that ERA succeeded in preventing displacement. To ensure ERA was visible, accessible, and preventive, cohort members built coalitions and conducted marketing, advocacy, and information campaigns focused on extending ERA and tenant protections, while also tracking eviction data. These activities, combined with relationship-building at the community and administrative levels, led to enhanced ERA outreach strategies, improved ERA application processes, reductions in barriers to access, increased data transparency, and innovative eviction prevention strategies.
The 2021-2022 ERASE cohort comprised 38 state and local nonprofit partners that conducted on-the-ground partnership development, capacity building, outreach and education, policy reform, and systems change work to ensure that emergency rental assistance (ERA) funds reached renters and small landlords with the greatest need for assistance – especially Black and Indigenous people and people of color, and other marginalized communities – and to build support for long term housing solutions.
The case studies highlight the positive impacts of the efforts pursued by the five organizations. Following sustained advocacy by Prosperity Indiana, Keep Detroiters in the Their Homes Coalition, and Hope Policy Institutei & Mississippi NAACP, the states of Indiana and Mississippi and the City of Detroit passed legislation that increased tenant protections, including eviction sealing legislation, right to counsel for tenants being evicted, and extensions of the time tenants have to vacate their home after receiving an eviction notice. Similar efforts by Connecticut Fair Housing Coalition and Idaho Asset Building Network led to the full utilization of ERA funds in Connecticut and Idaho, increasing the number of tenants who applied for and received ERA. Prosperity Indiana and Idaho Asset Building Network also succeeded in pushing their respective state ERA programs to implement subgrants, allowing community organizations to distribute housing stability services and application assistance and increasing tenants’ access to ERA.
For more information about NLIHC’S ERASE PROJECT, visit: https://nlihc.org/erase-project
Find the five case studies here:
Connecticut Fair Housing Center: Using Data to Impact Program Spending and Prevent Evictions
Idaho Asset Building Network: The Power of an ERA Equity Working Group
Prosperity Indiana: An All of Government Approach to Serving Hoosiers Most in Need
Keep Detroiters in Their Homes Project: Advancing a Collaborative, Community-Centered Approach