Emergency rental assistance programs throughout the region have varying levels of success

Rental assistance programs have provided crucial support to residents throughout the region this year, but the programs of different states, districts, and counties have had mixed effectiveness, which could jeopardize the funding of some of those areas.

Under the Consolidated Appropriations Act that was enacted in December 2020, the federal government provided $25 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA1) to aid households during the pandemic. Through it, households are eligible for rental assistance if they meet the following conditions:

1. One or more individuals within the household has qualified for unemployment benefits or experienced a reduction in household income, incurred significant costs, or experienced other financial hardship due, directly or indirectly, to the COVID-19 outbreak.
2. One or more individuals within the household can demonstrate a risk of experiencing homelessness or housing instability.
3. The household has a household income at or below 80% of area median income.

ERA1 funds were distributed through states and localities with populations greater than 200,000, which has led to differing levels of effectiveness across the Washington region.

In the District

DC has distributed federal emergency rental assistance funding through its STAY DC program, which is administered by the Department of Human Services. The District received $200 million in ERA1 funds, plus an additional $152 million from the American Rescue Plan Act, totaling $352 million in funds, which it has had increasing success at distributing.

On August 9, just 27.5% of its ERA1 funds had been distributed to its residents. By August 25, that number had jumped to 47.3%. Through STAY DC, the District has provided assistance to 15,069 households.

While the federal requirements for what was considered facing housing instability are somewhat vague, DC has defined them more clearly, limiting access to its program to households that are past due on rent or utilities or that pay at least 50% of their income on rent.

This is not to say DC has not had its share of challenges. Evictions are starting back up again in DC; according to DCist, DC Council Chair Phil Mendelson is casting blame on Mayor Muriel Bowser’s administration in light of delays in the rollout of STAY DC funds (critics point out, however, that Mendelson supported ending the eviction moratorium in the first place).

In the Commonwealth

Virginia has been exceptionally successful at distributing ERA1 funds. As of August 9, 42.6% of its $569.7 million in ERA1 funding had been distributed to residents. Unlike Maryland, Virginia is largely distributing its funds statewide, even for its populous counties. This decision was made by the individual counties. For example, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors decided to have the county’s aid handled by the state for a few reasons. One, there aren’t enough staff at the county’s Department of Family Services to effectively manage the program alongside its existing aid programs. Loudoun officials also didn’t expect enough people to participate in the program to warrant the costs. Finally, Loudoun officials concluded that allowing the state to manage the program would allow landlords who owned properties in multiple jurisdictions to more easily apply for aid on behalf of residents.

There are two counties in Virginia, Chesterfield County and Fairfax, that chose to seek funds directly from the federal government. Fairfax County received $34.5 million in ERA1 funds for its program. This an increase from its initial funding, as the Department of the Treasury increased its grant from $27.3 million after designating it as a “high-need” destination. As of August 11, 29.3% of these funds had been distributed.

In Virginia, “prioritization is given to households who are currently facing eviction, whose income is at or below 50% Area Median Income (AMI), and/or include an adult who has been unemployed more than 90 days.”

This has resulted in Virginia being able to reach its residents who have the greatest need, providing funds to more than 70% of households with area median incomes at or below 30% as of July 1.

Maryland

In Maryland, the funds have been distributed by a combination of state and county funding. Under ERA1, Maryland directly received $258.1 million, while counties like Montgomery and Prince George’s received $31.4 million and $27.1 million respectively.

Maryland has been severely struggling to get money to renters in need. As of August 9, only 14.9% of Maryland’s ERA1 funding had been distributed to residents. While this is more than most states in the country, it is far worse than DC or Virginia. Montgomery County has been more successful than Maryland, as it had used 70% of its allocation as of September 13, but both have been outperformed by Prince George’s, which had distributed 83% of its ERA1 funding as of August 18.

In Maryland, “local jurisdictions will operate rental assistance programs independently,” and for all of its counties, assistance can only be accessed through county departments. In Montgomery County, the program is administered by its Department of Health and Human Services, while in Prince George’s County, the program is administered by its Department of Housing and Community Development.

Both county departments developed their own independent criteria by which they judge who should receive funds first. Both were based on a combination of COVID-19 impact, housing stress, and social factors. This has resulted in the maps of prioritized areas shown above and below.

The future of the region’s emergency rental assistance programs

Failure to distribute a large amount of ERA1 funds has more consequences than just preventing people from getting the aid they need. Beginning on September 30, the Department of the Treasury will withdraw any excess funding from states and localities and reallocate it to ones that have obligated at least 65% of their initial funds. In our region, the state of Maryland and Fairfax County have not yet met the 65% threshold.

As of September 8, “Treasury has not issued any guidance regarding how it will define “excess” unobligated funds held by grantees and when they plan to conduct the recapture and reallocation,” but it still presents a deadline that lagging states and localities may fail to meet. The Department of the Treasury has also “not yet clarified whether ‘obligated’ means funding is spent, committed, or allocated.”

While the goal of this reallocation is to give additional funds to the places that need them the most, if Maryland and Fairfax County are unable to meet that deadline, it could deprive them of the resources to aid their residents. In order to hold onto ERA1 funding, their rental assistance programs will have to distribute at least as much aid as they distributed up to July by the end of this month, which could pose a significant challenge for them.

Update: This article was updated on Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021, and includes the latest data regarding Montgomery County’s distribution of ERA1 funds as of September 13, 2021.