Report Finds ERA Spending Slows Yet Grantees Deny Applications Due to Limited Funds

Date Published: 
June 1st, 2022

The National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) released a new report that summarizes emergency rental assistance (ERA) spending trends, projects when state and large local grantees may exhaust their ERA1 and ERA2 funds, and estimates the amount of funding the U.S. Department of the Treasury (Treasury) could reallocate from slow-spending to fast-spending grantees. Key findings suggest that 22 state grantees and the District of Columbia will expend their ERA1 funds by the end of May 2022 if current spending patterns continue and grantees do not receive additional reallocated funds. The District of Columbia and six additional state grantees will expend both their ERA1 and ERA2 funds in that same period.

Grantees received their full ERA1 allocations in January 2021 and must obligate these funds by September 2022. Grantees’ ERA2 allocations are disbursed by Treasury in tranches, with the first tranche comprising 40% of grantees’ total ERA2 allocations. However, in February 2022, Treasury revised its guidance and decided to disburse ERA2 in three tranches: 40%, 30%, and 30%. Grantees had until May 16, 2022, to accept their ERA2 allocation, and they have until September 2025 to obligate these funds.

NLIHC tracks that in recent months, the pace of ERA1 and ERA2 spending has slowed nationally. However, data from NLIHC’s ERA Database indicates that as of May 17, 2022, 89 state and local ERA grantees are not accepting new applicants due to limited remaining funds. The report also details that four states with the most remaining ERA funds per household behind on rent are low-population states. NLIHC estimates that in California, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas, more than $1 billion of additional ERA funds is needed to serve the estimated number of renter households behind on rent, given the average ERA assistance distributed per household served.

 

Read Full Report  

Resource type(s): 

Sorry, this content is only available to members.

If you're a member of CLPHA, please click here to log in.

If you have not created your CLPHA.org account, it’s easy to create one. Click here for step-by-step instructions.

You can also click here to watch a webinar site tour that shows CLPHA members how to create website accounts for themselves and provides an overview of the site's functionality.

Otherwise, we invite you to learn more about the many benefits of CLPHA membership.