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11/30/2021

Emergency Rental Assistance Program Surpasses 2.5 Million Payments to Renters and Landlords | U.S. Department o…

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY
Emergency Rental Assistance Program Surpasses 2.5 Million
Payments to Renters and Landlords
November 29, 2021

More than 521,000 renters received Emergency Rental Assistance in October, totaling more
than $2.8 billion in payments.
WASHINGTON — State and local governments provided assistance to more than 521,000
renters and landlords in October through the Department of the Treasuryʼs Emergency Rental
Assistance (ERA) programs, bringing the total number of payments for the ERA programs to
more than 2.5 million.
Over the last six months, Treasuryʼs e orts to provide grantees with additional flexibilities
and highlight promising practices have helped speed up the pace at which these funds are
reaching renters in need. Treasury now projects that approximately $25 to $30 billion of
combined ERA 1 and ERA 2 funds will be spent or obligated by the end of the year. For ERA 1
alone, Treasury estimates that at least 80% of the programʼs funding will be spent or
obligated by year-end, nine months before the deadline for grantees to spend their initial
allocations.
As of the end of October, more than 100 State and local ERA 1 grantees had expenditure
ratios of 95% or more, meaning they had e ectively completed spending ERA 1 funds, and
nearly 130 grantees had already begun to spend their ERA 2 funds.
Numerous grantees have also announced that they have obligated the vast majority of their
ERA 2 funding. For example, New York State announced it has paid or obligated $2 billion of its
$2.4 billion total ERA funding, including over 81,000 payments to support households with
rental assistance. Texas has announced that the total applications in its system – including
the $1.2 billion it has already disbursed – now exceed the stateʼs ERA1 and ERA2 allocations
combined. Oregon has also reported that all of its funds are spoken for between dollars that
have already gone out the door and applications in process.
Consistent with the American Rescue Plan Act, Treasury has begun a process to reallocate
available ERA 1 funds from grantees that have unused funds. Treasury anticipates that a
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11/30/2021

Emergency Rental Assistance Program Surpasses 2.5 Million Payments to Renters and Landlords | U.S. Department o…

substantial portion of the first round of reallocation will happen voluntarily – in a collaborative
process among grantees and Treasury. The rapid pace of improvement in ERA programs —
including the overwhelming share of funds estimated to be spent or obligated by year-end —
means that Treasury expects only a limited amount will be available for reallocation. Under
the ERA statute, obligated funds cannot be recaptured and used for reallocation.
Treasury is encouraging states and localities to use other sources of funds, including the $350
billion Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds, to provide additional support to
renters – as several communities are already doing.
Find the October Emergency Rental Assistance data here.
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