State and local governments provided assistance to approximately 665,000 renters and landlords through emergency rental assistance (ERA) programs in November—the largest number of payments made in any month since the programs were created—according to the Department of Treasury. This brings the total number of payments for the ERA programs to more than 3.1 million.
In addition, the $2.9 billion from the two ERA programs in November marks the largest amount of assistance paid to renters and landlords. November also is the third straight month where more than $2.8 billion in ERA expenditures and over 500,000 payments have been made through the programs.
Treasury projects that approximately $25 billion to $30 billion of ERA funds through both programs were spent or obligated by the end of the year, based on the pace of spending and obligation through the end of November.
“Due to the administration’s efforts to prevent evictions, including the significant progress shown in the implementation of ERA programs, eviction filings remain well below pre-pandemic levels,” according to Treasury. “Eviction Lab data shows that in the four full months since the end of the eviction moratorium in August, eviction filings have remained below 60% of historic levels.”
Treasury also is working to reallocate grantees’ recaptured ERA 1 funds in multiple rounds to meet the American Rescue Plan statute. It plans to disburse more than $1.1 billion in ERA 1 funding in the first round. More than three-quarters of that amount are significant one-time transfers proposed voluntarily between grantees in the same state. Any amounts recaptured from a grantee were first prioritized to grantees in the same state and then distributed nationally to those that had substantially completed their ERA 1 spending, with those making progress on their ERA 2 disbursements weighted more heavily.
The deadline for submitting a request for the second round of reallocated ERA 1 funds is Jan. 21. The process for reallocating ERA 2 funds will not begin until March 31, and Treasury will publish separate guidance for this reallocation.
