Survey Examines Lack of Landlord and Tenant Participation in ERA Programs

Research from NLIHC, the Housing Initiative at Penn, and NYU Furman Center indicates that a lack of landlord and tenant participation is a challenge to state and local administrators of Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs. To understand the extent of non-responsiveness and refusal to participate in ERA programs, NLIHC asked 247 program administrators to complete a short survey between September 9 and September 15. ERA programs indicated they experience greater refusal and unresponsiveness from landlords than from tenants.

The survey asked about the frequency with which landlords or tenants are non-responsive or refuse to participate in ERA programs and provided open-ended questions aimed at understanding the primary reasons landlords and tenants do not participate in ERA programs. NLIHC received 93 responses, a response rate of 38%. Of respondents, 12% of program administrators represented state jurisdictions, 68% represented local jurisdictions, and 20% represented tribal jurisdictions. NLIHC is currently tracking 495 ERA programs, of which 10% are state programs, 59% are local programs, 1% are territory programs, and 30% are tribal government programs.

Findings from the survey include:

• ERA program administrators rarely experience tenants refusing to participate in ERA programs. Most (49%) ERA programs have never experienced tenants refusing to participate in ERA programs and 90% of programs never, very rarely, or rarely experience tenants refusing to participate
• While non-responsiveness is more common than outright refusal for both landlords and tenants, program administrators indicated they experience greater refusal and unresponsiveness from landlords than from tenants
• Reasons program administrators give for tenants not participating include challenges with tenant engagement and the application process
• Reasons program administrators give for landlords refusing or not responding include landlords not wanting to share their W-9s and wanting to retain the ability to evict tenants for other reasons

Access the brief at: https://bit.ly/3mbLo0t