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.
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 difficult task early on in building the assistance infrastructure needed to get ERA funds quickly to eligible households. However, the success of a diverse range of programs covering communities from big cities and states to remote counties show that it’s more than possible to do this effectively.
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 effectively 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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