NLIHC’s End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions (ERASE) project will host the third and final installment of its summer webinar series on August 24 from 3 to 4:15 pm ET. The third session of the series, which highlights the achievements of 2022-2023 ERASE cohort members, will focus on members’ successes advocating for the creation of permanent emergency rental assistance (ERA) programs in their jurisdictions. In addition to exploring the efforts made by ERASE cohort members to sustain ERA, the call will address the status of the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s (Treasury) ERA program, provide an overview of advocacy strategies that helped ensure long-term funding for permanent ERA, and identify program components and features to incorporate into permanent ERA programs. Register for the call here.
The ERASE project was established in January 2021 to ensure that the historic ERA enacted by Congress during the COVID-19 pandemic reached the lowest-income and most marginalized renters. ERA funds were allocated over two phases and were administered through Treasury. The first round of funding was made available through the December 2020 COVID-19 relief package, which apportioned $25 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA1) to low-income renter households to keep them stably housed amid the public health emergency. In March 2021, Congress passed its second and final round of ERA funding, which provided an additional $21.55 billion (ERA2) in aid and brought the total amount of ERA funds allocated to renter households to $46.55 billion.
Since then, state and local governments have been able to assist more than 10 million households with rental payments to stop the threat of eviction. However, despite the program’s success, ERA funds are nearing depletion. As a result, many states and localities hope to create permanent emergency rental assistance programs in their own localities to continue supporting tenants in rental arrears. One of the groups advocating for the creation of permanent ERA programs has been the 2022-2023 ERASE cohort. The cohort comprises 34 state and local nonprofit organizations that are conducting on-the-ground partnership development, capacity building, outreach and education, and policy reform and systems change work to promote housing stability, advance equity, and prevent evictions for renter households all over the nation.
During the August 24 call, participants will learn how the Minnesota Housing Partnership successfully advocated for the passage of $120 million in ERA by the state to support tenants over the long-term. Participants will also hear from the King County Bar Association and the Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania about efforts to prevent evictions with ERA funds, including how court mediation programs funded with ERA money prevented evictions.
The call will feature a broad range of speakers, including:
- Victoria Bourret, ERASE Senior Project Coordinator, NLIHC
- Sophie Siebach Glover, Research Analyst, NLIHC
- Elizabeth Glidden, Deputy Executive Director, Minnesota Housing Partnership
- Amy Kangas, Social Worker, Housing Justice Project of the King County Bar Association
- Gale Schwartz, Associate Director of Policy & Programs, Housing Alliance of Pennsylvania
To learn more about the ERASE project visit: https://nlihc.org/erase-project. To learn more about the disbursement of Treasury’s ERA funds, visit NLIHC’s Emergency Rental Assistance Dashboard at https://nlihc.org/era-dashboard.