The U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM) adopted a resolution, “In Support of Preventing Evictions and Homelessness Through Ongoing Resources for Emergency Rental Assistance,” with unanimous, bipartisan support on June 23. The resolution urges Congress to enact the bipartisan “Eviction Crisis Act,” a policy priority for NLIHC’s HoUSed campaign and the Opportunity Starts at Home (OSAH) campaign.
Introduced in the previous Congress by Senators Michael Bennet (D-CO), Todd Young (R-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH), and Rob Portman (R-OH, retired), the “Eviction Crisis Act” would create a permanent, federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) program to provide short-term financial assistance and housing stability services to households facing an unexpected financial crisis that puts them at risk of eviction and in the worst cases homelessness. NLIHC worked in partnership with the Mayors and CEOs for U.S. Housing Investments to draft and introduce the resolution.
The resolution was introduced with sponsorship from a broad, bipartisan coalition of mayors, including:
- Aftab Pureval (Cincinnati, OH)
- Justin Bibb (Cleveland, OH)
- Angela Birney (Redmond, WA)
- London Breed (San Francisco, CA)
- Malik Evans (Rochester, NY)
- Todd Gloria (San Diego, CA)
- Martha Guerrero (West Sacramento, CA)
- Tishaura Jones (St. Louis, MO)
- Heidi Lueb (Tigard, OR)
- Lauren McLean (Boise, ID)
- Satya Rhodes-Conway (Madison, WI)
- Rex Richardson (Long Beach, CA)
- Regina Romero (Tucson, AZ)
- Andy Schor (Lansing, MI)
- Brett Smiley (Providence, RI)
In addition, the USCM enacted resolutions calling on Congress to advance other HoUSed campaign priorities, including:
- Enacting the “Ending Homelessness Act” (led by Mayor Bass, Los Angeles).
- Enacting the Housing Crisis Response Act” (led by Mayor Bass, Los Angeles).
- Support for Housing First to combat homelessness (led by Mayor Kapszukiewicz, Toledo, OH).
- Enacting the “Reforming Disaster Recovery Act” (led by Mayor Gloria, San Diego).
Read the resolution here.