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 ISLAND OF OAHU: CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU AND DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS
CITY AND COUNTY OF HONOLULU
$121 million total of all ERA allocations
DEPARTMENT OF HAWAIIAN HOME LANDS
$2.4 million total of all ERA allocations
- On the island of Oahu, residents have access to ERA programs run by the City and County of Honolulu, and native Hawaiians also have access to programs managed by the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which provides assistance to native Hawaiians across the state. The nonprofit organizations running these programs have worked together to simplify the application the process and provide additional “one-on-one” and culturally competent support to meet local needs. They have also proactively engaged with other nonprofit organization providing human services resulting in more integrated continuum of care for those in need of ERA benefits. These coordinated services have supported high spend rates on ERA funds for both grantee programs run by the City and County of Honolulu and the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands.