Overview
  • Overview
  • Increasing Housing Supply
  • Dedicated Funding Sources
  • Land Use Regulation and Approval Reforms
  • Inclusionary Zoning
  • Regional Housing Target Enforcement
  • Ending and Preventing Homelessness
  • Systems-Level Racial Equity Analysis
  • Emergency Response Resources
  • Housing First
  • Master Leasing
  • Household and Community Protections
  • “Just Cause” Eviction Laws
  • Anti-Gouging Rent Regulations
  • Strategic Code Enforcement
  • Community Benefit Agreements
  • Community Power-Building
  • Community Ownership
  • Alliance and Coalition Building
  • Community Organizing
  • Tenant Organizing
  • Opportunity and Wealth
  • Mobility Assistance Programs
  • Rent Reporting
  • Reparations
  • Fair and Equitable Appraisals
  • Acknowledgments
    • Emergency Response Resources

    Overview

    The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the disproportionate housing stability challenges faced by Black, Latinx, and Indigenous people, as the legacy of racist policies left people with low incomes and people of color more economically vulnerable to the pandemic. To respond to the economic upheaval, the federal government administered nearly $47 billion for emergency rental assistance and $1.1 billion in emergency housing vouchers to help keep families housed during the pandemic. While the long-term impacts of these new programs are unknown, they advanced housing justice by helping those most affected by housing discrimination.

    Emergency rental assistance (ERA) helps people complete their rental payments and avoid the harm of eviction. ERA was administered through the Treasury Department, and data suggest that funds have been distributed equitably, consistent with the rates at which Black, Latinx, and women-led households had evictions filed against them in 2020. States and localities can also consult tools like the Emergency Rental Assistance Priority Index to determine the areas of highest need and equitably allocate resources. Emergency housing vouchers (EHVs) target people and families who are homeless, people who are at risk of becoming homeless or housing unstable, and people who are fleeing domestic violence. EHVs are typically administered by public housing authorities through continuums of care. For people who qualify, EHVs can prevent them from falling into homelessness by helping them pay their rent and stay in their homes.

    Where there are gaps in access to federal relief, community direct cash transfer (DCT) programs can also reach people in need of resources to stay housed. DCT programs provide people with flexibility and access to resources they might otherwise not have access to due to citizenship status, administrative barriers, and/or not being affiliated with a financial institution. DCT programs help meet people’s housing needs quickly by creating low-barrier access to safety net services.

    Examples of This Strategy in Action

    • To combat increasing housing instability due to COVID-19-related job loss, the City of Chicago’s Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) extended the scope of their Rental Assistance Program in spring 2020 with an additional $15 million in CARES Act funding. During the initial rollout of the program’s online application system, the DFSS recognized that Latinx residents from neighborhoods most affected economically by the pandemic were underrepresented in program applications. The DFSS pivoted their outreach to address barriers for this community, including improving language accessibility and increasing trust in government services. By working with trusted community partners to expand communication channels and providing application materials in Spanish, the city saw a 26 percent increase in the share of applications from Latinx residents in priority neighborhoods.
    • The San Francisco Housing Authority partnered with the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) to administer 906 EHVs throughout the city and the county. In addition to targeting households experiencing or at risk of homelessness, the program prioritized applicants from households that had been historically affected by structural racism. HSH dedicated a substantial number of vouchers to residents of District 10, which includes the Bayview, a historically Black neighborhood. As of January 2023, the San Francisco Housing Authority had successfully leased 50 percent of its EHVs.
    • THRIVE East of the River was a cash transfer program created by four District of Columbia–based nonprofit organizations that aimed to provide economic assistance to community members most vulnerable to the pandemic. The program engaged over 500 households in Ward 8—where Black residents make up more than 90 percent of the population—providing each with $5,500 of direct cash assistance. Most THRIVE participants were rent burdened and at risk of eviction, with less than half receiving housing assistance before the program. Many participating households used the program’s assistance to increase their housing stability by putting their funding toward rent, mortgage, and utility payments, with one participant reporting that THRIVE allowed them to exit homelessness and move into housing with their children.

     

     

    Next intervention: Housing First