Despite providing critical assistance to renters across the Commonwealth, significant sums remained unused across many jurisdictions nationwide
Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen urging the agency to consider improvements to the way it decides how emergency rental assistance (ERA) is redistributed to ensure equitable allotment of funding across Pennsylvania. As of November 2021, the program had spent or obligated at least $573 million in rental assistance in Pennsylvania and served over 64,000 households in all 67 counties in Pennsylvania.
Despite providing this critical assistance across the Commonwealth, significant sums remained unused across many jurisdictions while three counties or cities had spent nearly 90% of both their state and federal allocations of ERA. These unspent funds remained nearly nine months after the initial allocation of ERA funds was distributed, signifying both a need to continue to improve local programs as well as an urgent need to change the way ERA funds are redistributed so that future funding goes where it is most needed.
“Treasury should work to limit both the actual dollar amount and the amount of time that these funds are allowed to sit unused, especially when other jurisdictions have a critical and immediate need for more funding. It is imperative that unspent ERA I funds be made available to those with the demand for additional funding and the capacity to distribute those funds,” Senator Casey wrote.
Senator Casey recommended the Treasury Department take steps to modify the process it uses to recapture and reallocate unused rental assistance funds as well as improve its voluntary reallocation process. He requested that Treasury consider how some communities receive disproportionate funding over others, simply because they have overlapping jurisdictions. This process can lead to inequitable distribution of funding among cities even if they have similar numbers of people living in poverty.
Senator Casey also recommended the Treasury Department emphasize criteria that indicates high need, such as the number of rent-burdened households or county poverty rates, in the reallocation process for future rounds of reallocation. Finally, Senator Casey recommended Treasury provide special consideration for funding to jurisdictions that have an eviction diversion program.
Read the letter to Secretary Yellen here.
