Many of these recipients were women and people of color.
The Treasury Department has been regularly publishing information about how much money is going out to programs that are struggling get off the ground since last year after Congress approved over $46 billion in Emergency Rent Assistance. This is the first time that the government has published this type of snapshot of Americans who have received pandemic-related assistance.
Last year, more than 3.8 Million households were eligible for rental assistance. More than $25 Billion in assistance was spent to assist those in need.
Data shows that more than 80% of rental assistance was provided to very low income households in the last year, including those who earn 50% or less of the area median income. More than 60% of this assistance went to households with incomes below 30%.
The Treasury also found that the money was helping a wide range of recipients. Nearly 40% of the primary applicants who received assistance in the last three months of 2021 identified as Black. This is similar to what was seen in previous quarters of 2021. Around 20% identified themselves as Latino. Moreover, over two-thirds (63%) of households that received rental assistance were led by women.
"When we started implementing the Emergency Rental Assistance program in 2011, one of our goals was to avoid an eviction crisis affecting the most vulnerable families in the country. "Treasury is happy to report that the vast majority (over 90%) of the rental assistance went to keeping the low-income families in their homes during this pandemic," stated Wally Adeyemo, Deputy Secretary. "This was not an accident."
The Biden administration has teamed up with the states, localities, and tribes to raise awareness about the resources available for renters facing financial difficulties. However, there have been targeted efforts in the past year to reach vulnerable and hard-to-reach communities through faith organisations.
Six months after the Supreme Court revoked the Biden administration’s eviction ban, the new rental assistance data raises alarms that millions could be forced to leave their homes.
According to The Eviction Lab at Princeton University, although more landlords have filed cases after the CDC moratorium ended there have been far fewer evictions over the past six months. The emergency rental assistance could be one factor that helps keep evictions down.
Although more than half the rental assistance has been spent or obligated and data indicates that it is helping low income families, the Treasury Department recognizes that there is still much work to do. There are billions of dollars available to assist Americans in need.
Noel Poyo (Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Economic Development) stated that "a lot of the need that's still there is concentrated among very poor people and people of colour and people living in rural communities." This is a turning point in our lives. This is a confirmation that we are making progress. However, we still have money to move and people to reach.
The Treasury Department started the process last fall to reallocate unused funds from the initial tranche of rental assistance to other programs that have high demand. Some funds were transferred from state programs to city programmes, including $90 million for Indianapolis and $60 million for Milwaukee. California, New York and New Jersey, states with high renters, such as the District of Columbia, were also eligible for reallocated rental assistance, which ranged from $50 million to $17 millions.
Some officials from the state and local governments are asking for more money. The reallocation of the second tranche to those in higher demand will not begin until March. Officials are being warned by the Treasury Department not to expect the second round in emergency rental assistance to be nearly as large.
Officials reminded states and communities that they could also use the $350 million in state and local funds from the American Rescue Plan in March to aid in keeping people in their homes. You have more options when it comes to renting assistance.
