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On Jan. 29, 2021, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) officially issued an order extending the eviction moratorium to March 31, 2021. The order continues to ban evictions for certain renters under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. §264) and 42 CFR §70.2.
The Department of the Treasury recently released a list of state and local governments that will receive grants through the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program. The Treasury Department had launched the ERA program, making available $25 billion to assist households that are unable to pay rent and utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on Jan. 5. The funds are provided directly to states, U.S. territories, local governments, and Indian tribes. And grantees can use the funds to provide assistance to eligible households through existing or newly created rental assistance programs.
On Jan. 26, President Biden signed several new executive orders addressing racial equity, including a memorandum that directs HUD to mitigate racial bias in housing and advance fair housing laws. Biden said in a press conference, “We need to make equity and justice part of what we do every day… Again, I’m not promising we can end it tomorrow, but we are going to continue to make progress to eliminate systemic racism in every branch of the White House and the federal government.”
Freddie Mac recently announced it has provided $1.5 billion in LIHTC equity investments since reentering the market in 2018. In addition to reaching a volume milestone, the program has topped the 100 investments mark. The investments in low-income housing span underserved communities in 25 states, Puerto Rico, and Guam and provide more than 12,600 homes for households that struggle to find safe and affordable rental housing.
Since Senators-elect Reverend Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff won the Jan. 5 Georgia run-off elections, the Senate will be evenly divided between 50 Republicans and 50 Democrats. Vice President-elect Kamala Harris will decide the outcome of any tied votes through her role as President of the Senate, giving Democrats the majority. With Democrats winning control of the Senate, 2021 offers a good chance to break the legislative gridlock of the past several years.
Freddie Mac recently published a paper exploring the multifamily housing market in rural Persistent Poverty Counties with a special focus on the primary means by which the federal government supports the development of affordable housing nationwide -- the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit program.
Urban Institute recently issued a survey and report entitled “The Looming Eviction Cliff: Findings from the Urban Institute Coronavirus Tracking Survey.” The data from this report come from the second wave of Urban Institute’s Coronavirus Tracking Survey, administered between Sept. 11 and 28 to a nationally representative group of nonelderly adults.
The data shows the housing instability right before the CDC declared a national moratorium on evictions and the continuing challenges when the moratorium ends at the end of January. The survey finds the following:
President-elect Joe Biden has named Janet Yellen as his nominee for Secretary of the Treasury. Yellen was the chairwoman of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2018, and she would be the 78th Treasury Secretary and first woman to hold the position if confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The Treasury Secretary oversees the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), which administers the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program.
The Innovation for Justice (i4J) Program at the University of Arizona and the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) recently released a research report entitled, “Costs of Covid-19 Evictions.” It highlights some of the public costs of eviction-related homelessness that the United States will incur if adequate rental assistance and eviction protection is not provided.
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