October 14, 2021

The DC area distributed nearly 60 percent of Emergency Rental Assistance funds—more than $649 million—to renters struggling to pay rent ahead of the September 30 federal deadline. Originally, states and localities were required to distribute 65 percent of emergency funds before the deadline or they would risk having to return the money. DC and Virginia distributed 73 percent and 67 percent of funds, while Maryland only spent 28 percent. New guidance will ask states and localities that failed to meet the deadline to submit an improvement plan to the Department of the Treasury.

After the federal eviction moratorium ended, evictions in Maricopa County nearly doubled from August to September. Maricopa County and cities in the Phoenix metropolitan area received about $124 million in emergency funds and have distributed 83 percent, or about $103.5 million, to landlords and tenants. Still, many Arizonans are still at risk of eviction. “We are seeing many tenants who are getting judgment from landlords who aren’t willing to work with them to get rental or won’t renew leases because they want to raise rents,” said Pamela Bridge, director of advocacy and litigation at Community Legal Services.

In 1998, the Faircloth Amendment prohibited the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) from funding construction for or operating new units beyond the number already in stock. Since then, the number of public housing units has decreased because of demolitions, natural disasters, and programs that converted the units for other uses. HUD’s new Faircloth-to-RAD program plans to use the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) program to fund 227,000 new housing units—a small share of the 6.8 million the National Low Income Housing Coalition predicts is needed. “It’s amazing how many housing authorities have approached us in the last six months about building Faircloth units. It’s working,” said Tom Davis, director of HUD’s Office of Recapitalization.

Health care workers in Ketchum, Idaho, are turning down jobs because the area lacks affordable housing options. Current employees at St. Luke’s Wood River Hospital are also struggling to find housing, and some have resorted to living in RVs in the hospital’s parking lot. In response, St. Luke’s Health System and Arch, a nonprofit development organization, are working together to create more housing options. They recently broke ground on a project that will house a dozen health care workers and won’t require residents to pay more than 30 percent of their income on rent.