Join us on September 13 from 2 to 3 pm ET for a webinar featuring researchers from NLIHC, the Housing Initiative at Penn (HIP), and the Reinvestment Fund (RF) who will discusses their new jointly authored report, Beyond Housing Stability: Understanding Tenant and Landlord Experiences and the Impact of Emergency Rental Assistance. The report shows that the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Program offered a vital lifeline to tenants and landlords during the pandemic, improving outcomes in areas well beyond housing stability, including financial security, child well-being, and overall health.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its economic impact caused millions of people to fall behind on their rent, placing them at risk of eviction and increased exposure to a life-threatening virus. More than 8 million renter households – the great majority of them low-income and disproportionately people of color – were behind on their rent by the end of 2020. In response, the federal government created the ERA program, a temporary initiative administered by Treasury and designed to help low-income renters address rent and utility arrears, and appropriated an unprecedented $46.55 billion in funding.
The new report uses administrative, qualitative, and survey data to evaluate how tenants and landlords experienced ERA in programs run at five sites around the country: Allegheny County, Pennsylvania; the City and County of Denver, Colorado; Louisville/Jefferson County, Kentucky; Northern Ponca Housing Authority; and the State of Oregon. Survey data from five additional program sites were used to strengthen the evaluation. In addition to describing the characteristics of renter households that applied for ERA through the study sites, the report illuminates the experiences of tenants who applied for ERA. These experiences include the likelihood of receiving assistance, housing stability, financial security, physical and mental health, and child well-being.
In addition to staff from NLIHC, presenters on the webinar will include:
- Cypress Marrs, Housing Initiative at Penn
- Rebecca Yae, Housing Initiative at Penn
- Emily Dowdall, Reinvestment Fund