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The Treasury Department recently released quarterly data on the use of funds in the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) programs in calendar year 2021. The data shows the program's success in reaching households most in need given the challenges of implementing a brand-new program that required coordination among many participants.

Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have introduced the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act. The bill would reauthorize VAWA through 2027. The House passed its VAWA reauthorization bill, HR1620, in 2021.

To keep up with housing payments during the pandemic, renters have had to tap a wide range of financial resources, reports Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS)  in “Making the Rent: Household Spending Strategies During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” The report examines how households have managed their finances and rental payments in response to income loss during the pandemic. Researchers pulled data from U.S.

In early January, a tragic rowhouse fire broke out and killed 12 people, including nine children. The rowhouse was one of the Philadelphia Housing Authority’s “scattered site” properties. These are units throughout the city that are owned and managed by the authority but are not part of larger public housing complexes.

November 2021 was a record-breaking month for providing Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) assistance, according to a recent announcement from the Treasury Department. State and local governments provided assistance to approximately 665,000 renters and owners. And the $2.9 billion in ERA expenditures from both ERA1 and ERA2 funds in November 2021 represents the largest amount of assistance paid to eligible households and the largest number of payments made in any month since the programs were created.

The Treasury Department recently released new federal emergency rental assistance (ERA) data. The data shows that several large states and cities have exhausted their ERA allocations. Also, according to the latest data, states and local governments distributed more than $2.8 billion in ERA funds to more than 521,000 renters in October. Since being introduced, the program has seen more than $2.8 billion in funds distributed to over 2.5 million people.

On Nov. 3, the House Rules Committee released amended text for the Build Back Better Act. The amended text proposes putting nearly $12 billion into the LIHTC program and includes measures to strengthen the program.

HUD recently signed a Conciliation Agreement/Voluntary Compliance Agreement with owners of a HUD-subsidized community in Fairhope, Ala. The agreement resolves allegations and a HUD investigation into whether the owners’ policy prohibiting visitors under the age of 12 due to COVID-19 was discriminatory.

A resident, who had been providing childcare for her grandchildren, was allegedly told that she could no longer do so because it violated the owners’ policy, instituted due to COVID-19, prohibiting visitors to the property under the age of 12. 

HUD recently announced that it has approved a Conciliation/Voluntary Compliance Agreement between the Housing Authority of Maricopa County, in Mesa, Ariz., and one of its residents who has a mental health disability. Under the agreement, the housing authority will pay $10,000 to the tenant and provide fair housing training for its employees who work with the public. The housing authority will also vacate the tenant’s eviction and waive the $3,516 eviction judgment that had been entered against her.

The House Ways and Means Committee recently released legislative text of the $3.5 trillion reconciliation bill related to Low Income Housing Tax Credits. The legislation includes a number of key provisions from the Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act of 2021.