Only 11% of rental aid has gone out, Treasury says

Relief program still struggling to assist millions of tenants at risk of eviction

BOSTON — States and localities have distributed only 11% of the tens of billions of dollars in federal rental assistance, the Treasury Department said Wednesday, the latest sign the program is struggling to reach the millions of tenants at risk of eviction.

The latest data show that the pace of distribution increased in July over June and that nearly a million households have been helped.

But with the Supreme Court considering a challenge to the federal eviction moratorium, the concern is that a wave of evictions will happen before much of the assistance has been distributed. Some 3.5 million people in the U.S. as of Aug. 16 said they face eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

Lawmakers approved $46.5 billion in rental assistance earlier this year and most states are distributing the first tranche of $25 billion. According to the Treasury Department, $5.1 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance has been distributed by states and localities through July, up from $3 billion at the end of June and only $1.5 billion by May 31.

Several states, including Texas and Virginia, have been praised for moving quickly to get the federal money out. But many others have still distributed only a small percentage of the rental help.

Housing advocates blame the slow rollout partly on the Treasury Department under President Donald Trump, which they say was slow to explain how the money could be spent. The criteria, while clearer under the Biden administration, was still criticized for a burdensome process that seemed more focused on preventing fraud than helping tenants.

Advocates also said states made things worse — some waited months to set up programs, and others created bureaucratic hurdles.

Efforts to use coronavirus relief money for rental assistance last year faced similar challenges.

“Nearly 1 million households assisted is meaningful progress, but the overall rate of spending emergency rental assistance remains much too slow,” said Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

“Some communities are spending the money quickly and well, proving that it’s possible and making the many communities who aren’t all the more glaring and unacceptable” she said. “Seven months after funds were first allocated to them, nine states have spent less than 3% of the money and 16 states have spent less than 5%.”

National Apartment Association president and CEO Bob Pinnegar called the assistance rollout “a disaster, marred with programmatic inefficiencies and difficulties.”

“Americans are hurting and we are on the edge of another financial cliff as distribution deadlines loom and the future availability of rental assistance funds is jeopardized,” he said.