During the most recent national call on HoUSed: Universal, Stable, and Affordable Housing, we discussed next steps to advance long-term housing solutions, learned about updates to an emergency rental assistance (ERA) prioritization tool, heard the latest on NLIHC’s ERA tracking, learned about a report from Eviction Lab, discussed the CDC eviction moratorium, and received field updates.
NLIHC’s Sarah Saadian provided updates on NLIHC’s HoUSed campaign, the American Jobs Plan and President Biden’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 budget request. NLIHC’s Rebecca Yae and Neetu Nair provided updates on the Coalition’s ERA tracking. As of April 11, NLIHC tracked over 800 programs, 190 of which are from the ERA funds provided through the Treasury Department in the Consolidated Appropriations Act enacted in December 2020. Initial observations found an increased need for programs to allow self-attestation, as well as options to provide funding directly to tenants.
Sam Batko shared the Urban Institute’s ERA Prioritization Tool, which estimates the level of need in a census tract by measuring the prevalence of low-income renters who are at risk of experiencing housing instability and homelessness. Devin Rutan shared the Eviction Lab’s new report “Top Evicting Landlords Drive U.S. Eviction Crisis.” The study found evictions tend to occur in the same locations and buildings year after year, suggesting legal aid, mediation services, rental assistance, and homelessness services should be targeted to specific locations and tenants to have the greatest impact.
Martin Siegel from the Law Offices of Martin Siegel provided updates on the legal challenges to the CDC eviction moratorium. We received field updates from the Idaho Policy Institute at Boise State University and the Intermountain Fair Housing Council in Idaho.
NLIHC hosts national calls every week. On today’s call, we will be joined by U.S. Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary for Community Economic Development Noel Poyo, who will provide updates on Treasury’s Homeownership Assistance Fund and Emergency Rental Assistance programs. Register for today’s call (Monday, April 19 at 2:30 pm ET) at: https://tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Watch a recording of the April 12 call at: tinyurl.com/2bfdfh6r
Access presentation slides at: tinyurl.com/4xmwt2z9