COVID-19: Updates & Resources

Welcome to CLPHA's COVID-19 resource page.

CLPHA Members: COVID-19 Call Summaries & Other Members-Only Content

We encourage PHAs to refer to HUD’s COVID-19 webpage and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s website for information and updates about COVID-19, and to contact your state and local health departments for additional guidance.

CLPHA COVID-19 Advocacy

CLPHA, Industry Groups Send Letter to HUD, CDC, and White House Domestic Policy Council Urging Vaccine Prioritization for HUD-Assisted Communities

Statement of CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman on the House Passage of the American Rescue Plan Act

ACTION ALERT: Ask Congress to Fund Public Housing and Housing Vouchers in the Next COVID-19 Relief Bill

CLPHA Awards COVID-related Grants to 10 Member Public Housing Authorities

Public Housing Industry Groups Issue Joint Letter Calling on Congress to Appropriate Emergency Rental Vouchers in the Next COVID Relief Package

Statement of Sunia Zaterman, Executive Director of the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, on The Passage of The Latest COVID Relief Stimulus Package

CLPHA Urges Policy Makers to Honor American Workers by Prioritizing Emergency Rental Assistance

CLPHA + 30 Housing Industry Organizations Urge Congress to Return to Negotiate and Pass Next COVID-19 Stimulus Package

CLPHA Urges Lawmakers to Prioritize Rental Assistance In Latest COVID Stimulus Package

Statement of CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman: Senate Must Adequately Fund COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance

Statement of CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman on Senate Republicans' HEALS Act

LETTER: CLPHA Urges Senate Pass HEROES Act

Statement of CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman on the Importance of Including Emergency Rental Assistance in a Senate Stimulus Package

ACTION ALERT: Tell Your Senators that Housing Authorities Need Emergency Rental Assistance in the Senate Stimulus Bill

ACTION ALERT: Tell Congress That Housing Authorities Need Additional Housing Assistance in the Next COVID-19 Economic Relief Bill

CLPHA, Industry Groups, 777 PHAs Urge Congress to Provide More COVID-19 Supplemental Funding & Longer-Term Preservation Resources

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: Ask Congress to Fund Public Housing & Section 8 in the 4th COVID-19 Economic Relief Bill

CLPHA Requests $8.5 Billion in COVID-19 Emergency Funds from Congress

CLPHA Urges HUD to Provide Regulatory Relief to Public Housing Authorities During COVID-19 Response

CLPHA Statement: Public Housing Authorities Need $8.5 Billion in Emergency COVID-19 Funds Plus Regulatory Relief

HUD COVID-19 FAQs

HUD PIH Questions and Answers for PHAs re: COVID-19 (UPDATED 9/29)

HUD PIH: COVID-19 FAQs for the Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) (including the Project-based Voucher Program (PBV)) and Native American Programs

HUD Office of Multifamily Housing: Questions and Answers for Stakeholders (UPDATED 4/16)

HUD FHEO: Section 3 FAQs (Updated 4/17)

HUD Eviction Moratorium COVID-19 FAQs for Public Housing Agencies

Industry COVID-19 Calls, Webinars & Resources

CLPHA's Housing Is Initiative is frequently updating its website's event calendar with industry COVID-19 calls and webinars:

HousingIs.org Event Calendar

National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC)

NLIHC's COVID-19 page offers resources, reports, and information on rental assistance, evictions, and other issues exacerbated by the pandemic, as well as analysis of Congressional and federal government's COVID-19 responses and advocacy materials for stakeholders.

Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF)

SAHF has launched a public COVID-19 resource page for resident services practitioners and those directly working to meet resident needs. The page offers access to share useful resources and templates – both tools housers/RS practitioners have developed to support their own staff and residents, and external resources that are valuable for practitioners throughout this health crisis.

U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH)

Visit USICH's COVID-19 page for information and resources related to homelessness services.

Additional Public Health Resources

Local Health Departments

The National Association of County and City Health Officials has created a tool to help you search for local health departments in your area. Find contact information for local health departments using the site's map.

Webinar Recording: Infectious Disease Preparedness for Homeless Assistance Providers and Their Partners

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A webinar discussing guidance on infectious disease preparedness for homeless assistance providers and their partners featuring panelists from the National Health Care for the Homeless Council, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and ,the King County Department of Community and Human Services.

COVID-19 Federal Information Resources for Aging and People with Disabilities Support Organizations

School Closure Resources

Families Learning Together -- Activities (First Book)

A section featuring affordable books in bulk for adults and kids for as little as .55c and free downloadable activity sheets (in English and Spanish) to make the most of time at home with Pre K – 8th graders. Educators can download and send home these new free resources with activities that boost reading, math, and critical thinking skills as well as student mental health.

Open EBooks (First Book)

A free online library of titles for ages 0-18.

Books $3 and Under (First Book)

Books for children for $3 or less.

Press Release: CHARTER TO OFFER FREE ACCESS TO SPECTRUM BROADBAND & WI-FI FOR 60- DAYS FOR NEW K-12 AND COLLEGE STUDENT HOUSEHOLDS AND MORE

CHARTER EXPANDS BROADBAND FOR STUDENTS FINAL (002)

Comcast Internet Essentials: 2 Months of Free Service to New Members

In response to emergency measures associated with Coronavirus (COVID-19), Internet Essentials will increase speeds from 15/2 Mbps to 25/3 Mbps for all customers. This speed increase will happen automatically - no action is required by customers. In addition, new customers will receive two months of free service.

Becoming COVID Capable: Addressing Food and Meals Access for Housing Communities

A resource from the Partnership for Children & Youth outlining whow public and affordable housing communities can become meal distribution sites.

Sesame Street "Caring for Each Other" Initiative

As children, families, and the providers who support them continue to adjust to the changes and challenges stemming from the global pandemic, Sesame Workshop, in collaboration with AT&T and Walgreens, is expanding its Caring for Each Other initiative. New resources help families face current challenges like missing friends and feeling worried, while also giving children ways to celebrate the helpers in their neighborhoods, from pharmacists to mail carriers to grocery store employees.

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Latest COVID-19 News from CLPHA

4.12.21

HUD Hosting Webinar Series on COVID-19 Vaccinations

4.7.21

Research Roundup: The Latest Industry Reports on the Affordable Housing Shortage, Income Verification, and National Homelessness Rates

In its annual report on the national and state-level shortage of affordable housing, the National Low-Income Housing Coalition found in this year’s The Gap report that the affordability gap continues, with again no state having an adequate supply of affordable homes for extremely low-income renters. While the report uses data from 2019 and is therefore unable to account for effects of the pandemic, NLIHC speculates that COVID-19 has exacerbated affordability issues for extremely low-income renters by increasing the gap between income and housing costs. By December 2020, 70% of all renters with incomes less than $25,000 who were not retired lived in a household that had lost income earned from wages due to the pandemic. Texas, Florida, and California had the largest gaps between wages and rent.

A new GAO report, requested by Senators Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Charles Grassley (R-IA), examines how agencies verify income and assets using electronic data for public assistance programs. The GAO included the Housing Choice Voucher Program in its analysis and found that HUD required PHAs to use more specific data sources to verify income, compared to other agencies that grant greater flexibility in data sources. The agencies overseeing Medicaid and SNAP have also made greater efforts in recent years to share data with other agencies that can provide grantees with additional data sources available to them to complete income verification. One of the GAO’s two recommendations is for HUD to assess other ways for PHAs to verify income information, particularly through data sharing arrangements.

This year’s Annual Homeless Assessment Report (AHAR) from HUD finds that for the fourth consecutive year, homelessness has increased nationally, up two percent from 2019. On a single night in 2020, 580,000 people were experiencing homelessness, with 39% of those living in unsheltered locations such as the street, abandoned buildings, and vehicles. For the first year since AHAR data collection began in 2007, a greater number of individuals experiencing homelessness were unsheltered rather than sheltered. The report includes national estimates of homelessness for various demographics groups as well as state- and CoC-level estimates.