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9/15/2021

Treasury Releases Additional Emergency Rental Assistance Funds to High-Performing State and Local Government Gra…

Treasury Releases Additional Emergency Rental Assistance
Funds to High-Performing State and Local Government
Grantees
September 14, 2021

WASHINGTON — Today, the U.S. Department of the Treasury announced it will make the
remaining more than $13 billion in funding under the second wave of Emergency Rental
Assistance (ERA2) available to the high-performing state and local government grantees.
“Treasury is happy to provide these state and local government programs with additional
resources to support Americans in need of rental assistance,” said Deputy Secretary Wally
Adeyemo. “We are also committed to reallocating resources to ensure assistance reaches a
struggling tenants and landlords during the pandemic.”
By early February, Treasury disbursed the full $25 billion available in the first round of ERA
(ERA1) to state, local, and Tribal governments, along with $8.6 billion in additional funds
made available in early May through the second round of ERA (ERA2) under the American
Rescue Plan Act of 2021. Nearly 50 grantees spent more than 70% of their ERA1 allocations
by July 31st, including in some of nation’s largest metro regions that have adopted
Treasury's best practices. In response to an increasing number of grantees expending their
existing funds, Treasury is launching a process for high-performing grantees to draw down
the remainder of their ERA2 funding. Grantees are eligible once they have substantially
expended their ERA1 allocation and obligated at least 75% of the ERA2 funding that Treasury
previously paid to them. Treasury has already paid out the remaining ERA2 allocations to
grantees who met these criteria in recent weeks and is now launching a formal process to
meet this growing demand.
The following are examples of some of the fastest distributors among state and local
governments and their reported spending as of July 31st: These grantees have already or are
expected to soon qualify to receive their remaining ERA2 funds.

PHILADELPHIA, PA
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Treasury Releases Additional Emergency Rental Assistance Funds to High-Performing State and Local Government Gra…

The city’s Department of Planning and Development marshalled e orts to quickly build a
website, custom application, and back-end database in English and Spanish. The system
cross-references data with public housing authorities and local utility companies to
reduce applicants’ documentation requirements for debts owed, validates income
eligibility requirements, and guards against duplication of benefits. Philadelphia’s
program is also integrated directly into the city’s eviction court system. The court
requires defendants to apply for the city’s ERA program before allowing the eviction to
proceed. Further, all landlords who enroll in the city’s ERA program are automatically
enrolled in the eviction diversion system, alerting them to the resources o ered by the
city to help avoid tenant evictions, such as nonprofit mediation services. Last month, a
court order extended protections to also bar lockouts when an applicant has completed
their ERA application.

THE ISLAND OF OAHU: CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
AND DEPARTMENT OF HAW AIIAN HOME LANDS
On the island of Oahu, residents have access to ERA programs run by the City and County
of Honolulu, and native Hawaiians also have access to programs managed by the
Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which provides assistance to native Hawaiians
across the state. The nonprofit organizations running these programs have worked
together to simplify the application the process and provide additional “one-on-one”
and culturally competent support to meet local needs. They have also proactively
engaged with other nonprofit organization providing human services resulting in more
integrated continuum of care for those in need of ERA benefits. These coordinated
services have supported high spend rates on ERA funds for both grantee programs run
by the City and County of Honolulu and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.

THE CITY OF DES MOINES AND POLK COUNTY, IOW A
The City of Des Moines and Polk County were the first grantees to request their
remaining ERA2 funds. The county and city have worked with their local governments to
create a low barrier program for applicants that provides rental and utility assistance,
implemented through a local community-based organization. The program has a strong
relationship with the local court system to provide real-time support to those facing
potential evictions. The program has also developed relationships with local refugee
organizations to support program accessibility for these populations.
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Treasury Releases Additional Emergency Rental Assistance Funds to High-Performing State and Local Government Gra…

HOUSTON AND HARRIS COUNTY, TX
The city of Houston and surrounding Harris County, TX have run a highly e ective and
collaborative program for months. Deputy Secretary Adeyemo visited the program and
met with administrators in July. Last week, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo joined
Secretary Yellen at a virtual event hosted by the White House highlighting successful ERA
programs. At the event, Judge Hidalgo outlined how the county – which dispersed 92%
of ERA1 funds out by the end of July – has used a proactive diversion plan, including
e orts to reach out to renters who are on the eviction docket to connect them with
assistance – alongside self-attestation and a streamlined application process to
distribute all its ERA1 allocation.

LEON COUNTY, F L
Leon County’s program administrators adopted Treasury guidance in designing their ERA
application, which prioritizes simplicity. Applicants may demonstrate income eligibility
through categorical eligibility – evidence of enrollment in other government benefits
programs combined with self-attestation. They also created streamlined data processes
with local utility companies to ensure more e icient utility payments. Further, program
administrators pointed to the work of grassroots partnerships in making sure residents
who most need the funds would learn about the program through culturally and
linguistically relevant outreach and application support e orts.

NEW ORLEANS, LA
The city of New Orleans’s program serves a large percentage of small landlords, as many
of the rental units in the city are small multi-family residences that the landlord also
occupies. Much of their landlord engagement e orts also involve broader educational
resources to address small landlord financial needs, such as foreclosure mitigation. The
city has focused a lot of e orts on community awareness through neighborhood
engagement events. They also are actively working with the courts to help those facing
eviction receive fast tracked emergency rental assistance.
The Emergency Rental Assistance program is creating a national infrastructure for rental
assistance that previously didn’t exist. Treasury recognizes this meant that many state and
local governments faced a di icult task early on in building the assistance infrastructure
needed to get ERA funds quickly to eligible households. However, the success of a diverse
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range of programs covering communities from big cities and states to remote counties show
that it’s more than possible to do this e ectively.
As U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Janet L. Yellen reiterated at last week’s White House event
highlighting high-performing program, while Treasury’s strong preference is for each
jurisdiction to have the opportunity to use the full amount of its original ERA allocation, the
department is prepared to reallocate funds from state and local programs that are not
quickly dispersing funds to programs that are e ectively getting funds out the door. The
ERA1 statute requires Treasury to begin identifying excess funds that have not been
obligated by a state or other grantee and reallocating those resources to high-performing
jurisdictions that have obligated at least 65% of their original allocation. This process will
make it possible for the highest-performing jurisdictions – like those who are drawing down
on their full ERA2 funding – to access additional resources so they can continue serving
tenants and landlords in need. Treasury will share more details on the reallocation process
in the coming weeks, including the spending threshold grantees must meet to avoid having
their funds reallocated to more successful programs.
Additional information for taxpayers on the Emergency Rental Assistance program.
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