96
The Big Finish
Wrap your head
around the market's
leading indicators.
RENTAL-AID DISTRIBUTION
STILL SLOW
e U.S. Treasury reports that, as of July's end, some $46 billion in government rental aid is still being disbursed at a sluggish pace, with only
about 11% thus far in the hands of renters and property owners who need it. While the pace of distribution increased moderately from the prior
month, total aid disbursed to date comes to about $5.1 billion, according to numbers released near the end of August.
"New data on program performance demonstrates steady improvement in delivering Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) to eligible households
… [however] many grantees need to do more to urgently accelerate efforts to prevent harmful evictions of vulnerable families," reads the Treasury
report.
e Treasury announced updates to help grantees expedite assistance, including measures to reduce processing delays by providing more lenient
requirements for applicants to prove need via self-attestation, without further documentation, and for landlords to do so on behalf of tenants.
e report comes amid a temporary stay of the Center for Disease Control's coronavirus-related eviction moratorium, which expires October
3. Once that ends, about 3.6 million Americans, according to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, say they "somewhat or very likely" face
eviction within the coming two months. e bureau has a tool, accessible on ConsumerFinance.gov, to assist landlords in applying for funds on
behalf of tenants.
One example of the Treasury's new policies to expedite distribution involves reducing the requirements and paperwork for landlords and utility
providers accessing funds on behalf of tenants.
"To speed assistance, Treasury is establishing guidelines for providing a portion of estimated bulk payments to landlords and utility providers in
anticipation of the full satisfaction of application and documentation requirements," the announcement read. "ese changes balance the need to
assist households served by larger landlords and utilities with the need to protect taxpayers."
e full list of updated policies is available at home.treasury.gov.
$5.00
$4.50
$4.00
$3.50
$3.00
$2.50
$2.00
$1.50
$1.00
$0.50
$0.00
Q1 April May June July
Billions
($)
ERAI Assistance to Households
Through July 2021
