COVID-19: Updates & Resources

Latest COVID-19 News from CLPHA

7.30.21

CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman: Housing Authorities Committed to Preventing Evictions

Media Contact: David Greer, CLPHA dgreer@clpha.org (202) 550-1381 For Immediate Release July 30, 2021 (Washington, D.C.) July 30, 2021 – CLPHA Executive Director Sunia Zaterman released the following statement upon the scheduled end of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) nationwide eviction moratorium on July 31, 2021: “While millions of low-income households are facing the threat of homelessness with the eviction moratorium scheduled to end this week, public housing authorities are committed to using every tool and resource available to keep residents safely housed. Public housing authorities understand that keeping people housed is the most cost-effective approach to prevent homelessness. Evictions are expensive, burdensome, and time consuming, and they increase turnover and vacancy costs for housing authorities. Furthermore, evictions are a soul-crushing experience that impacts every aspect of one’s life and are a significant contributor to long-term unemployment and homelessness. “Throughout the pandemic, housing authorities have connected at-risk residents with additional support and services, including obtaining emergency rental assistance. The good news is the Treasury-administered Emergency Rental Assistance Program has increased the speed of its fund distribution. We know that more can be done to streamline access to funds by partnering with local housing authorities to help those assisted households in need. “Congress funded emergency rental assistance programs because they are the most cost-effective measure to avoid the destructive and demoralizing process of evictions and prevent poverty. We urge the Treasury and Housing and Urban Development Departments and the White House to continue to work closely together to distribute emergency rental assistance as quickly and efficiently as possible to stem the tide of evictions.”


*About the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities* The Council of Large Public Housing Authorities is a national non-profit organization that works to preserve and improve public and affordable housing through advocacy, research, policy analysis and public education. CLPHA’s 70 members represent virtually every major metropolitan area in the country. Together they manage 40 percent of the nation’s public housing program; administer more than a quarter of the Housing Choice Voucher program; and operate a wide array of other housing programs. Learn more at *clpha.org* and on Twitter @CLPHA* .* *About CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative* The Housing Is Initiative, led by the Council of Large Public Housing Authorities, helps build a future where sectors work together to improve life outcomes. Housing stability is a critical first step to improve life outcomes for low-income children, families, and seniors; CLPHA’s Housing Is Initiative is based on the premise that sectors can better meet needs when they work together. Housing Is establishes, broadens, and deepens efforts to align affordable housing, education, and health systems to produce positive, long-term results. Learn more at housingis.org and on Twitter @housing_is.

7.28.21

Brief: Certain COVID-19 Regulatory and Statutory Waivers Could Provide Permanent Flexibilities to PHAs

Seventeen months after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic, public housing agencies (PHAs) have been forced to quickly adjust their operational policies and procedures to protect their staff, residents and property owners, while continuing provide critical to housing supports. Many PHAs also embarked on providing new services to ensure residents had reliable access to public health information, food for the most vulnerable residents, and technology to support remote education and connect isolated senior residents with distant family and friends. Efforts like these would have been difficult to implement without the allowance of regulatory and statutory waivers for Public Housing, Housing Choice Voucher (including Mainstream and Mod Rehab), Indian Housing Block Grant and Indian Community Development Block Grant programs.

In May 2021, the Urban Institute published a brief detailing insights from 10 PHAs on how certain regulatory and statutory waivers have granted public housing programs more operational flexibility than under normal circumstances. As the eviction crisis looms with the expiration of the CDC Eviction Moratorium on July 31, 2021, CLPHA is resurfacing this report to highlight certain permanent regulatory and statutory waivers that CLPHA continues to advocate are necessary for PHAs to continue to be responsive as the COVID-19 lingers on.

Among the regulatory and statutory waivers granted in Notice PIH 2021-14 (supersedes Notices PIH 2020-33; PIH 2020-13; PIH 2020–05), the brief summarizes that PHA leaders recommend the following waivers become permanent:

Remote hearings and briefings;
Family income self-certification and the ability to forgo third-party income verification requirements; and
Extensions of voucher search term.

Click here to review the full brief, Public Housing Programs Could Benefit from Greater Flexibility: Learning from the COVID-19 Pandemic Experience.

7.28.21

Mayor Fulop Announces Latest COVID-19 Rent Relief Program for Neediest Small Unit Landlords and Tenants (Jersey City Housing Authority)

From Jersey City, NJ Mayor Steven Fulop's press release:

Mayor Steven M. Fulop and the Jersey City Housing Authority (JCHA) announce the latest Jersey City COVID-19 Rent Relief Program, which will provide up to $10,000 in much-needed rental assistance to low-income Jersey City families who have experienced significant financial hardships due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Rent Relief Program will prioritize families living in owner-occupied buildings with less than five apartments.

The goal of the rental assistance program is twofold in that each grant will provide rent relief to residents with the greatest need while simultaneously ensuring small property owners that live on the premise also benefit most from the program. The City will dedicate more than $7 million received from the U.S. Department of the Treasury in Emergency Rental Assistance Program funds administered by the JCHA on behalf of the City to provide up to $10,000 per qualifying household to cover rent and rental arrears.

“We understand that families are struggling to pay rent, and small property owners are also struggling to keep up with the mortgage and other bills. That’s why we are focusing on owner-occupied buildings with four units or less, because they have been the hardest-hit and will benefit most from this aid, rather than large businesses,” said Mayor Fulop. “Once we can help our lowest-income residents, we intend to methodically expand the eligibility pool further by income and to non-owner-occupied buildings.”

...

“The JCHA is pleased to be working closely with the City to administer this latest round of rent relief funding, which will significantly help ease the financial burdens low-income residents and small landlords face as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Vivian Brady-Philips, Executive Director of the JCHA. “In advance of the application period, JCHA will provide information and outreach to tenants, small landlords, and community-based partners to help low-income residents learn about and apply for the program.”

Read Mayor Fulop's press release featuring the Jersey City Housing Authority.

7.28.21

How Louisville's housing authority went from hundreds of evictions to zero