Treasury: At Least 60% of Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) Has Been Spent or Obligated

As of the end of February, state and local communities had distributed more than 4.7 million payments of emergency rental assistance (ERA) to households, and had spent or obligated approximately $30 billion of the $46 billion in ERA funding from the Treasury Department.

Treasury expects the vast majority of the remaining funds to be distributed to households or paid to grantees by the middle of this year.

To maximize the number of renters who receive ERA, the department is reallocating funds away from communities that have been slow to distribute them.

“Treasury will continue to prioritize reallocating funds within the same state when possible , and where excess funds remain, it will provide them to areas with significant demonstrated need and ability to provide assistance promptly,” the department stated. “To date, Treasury has reallocated more than $2 billion of ERA1 funds, the majority of which were transferred voluntarily between grantees within the same state, with reallocated funds generally going to higher-need areas and more diverse communities.”

Because relatively few funds are expected to be available for reallocation, the Treasury Department is encouraging and incentivizing state and local governments to commit additional funding (including portions of their State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds) to provide rental assistance to more people and to make long-term investments in eviction prevention.

Read the full announcement for more reallocation guidance .

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