From the Coalition on Human Needs (http://www.chn.org):
The federal moratorium on housing evictions is about to expire on July 31st and millions of Americans are on the verge of losing their homes. According to the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, 7.4 million people are behind on their rent and nearly half are in jeopardy of being evicted in the next two months.1
In order to assist renters and landlords in every state to take advantage of the tens of billions of dollars in federal Emergency Rental Assistance, the Biden administration launched a new website today to help folks find the help they need in their own communities. These funds can help with back utilities bills too. Congregations, service providers, schools…please encourage them and others to spread the word about this website to connect people to the help they need to prevent eviction.
But there’s much more work to be done. While this Emergency Rental Assistance, which was signed into law by President Biden in March, is critical to keeping millions of people in their homes, this program is temporary. Each year, millions of people apply for Housing Choice Vouchers. But with demand far outpacing the number of vouchers available, many states have closed their waiting lists.
Those who’ve been able to successfully apply wait for an average of 28 months before receiving housing vouchers with some states taking as long as 5 years to reach people in need.2
With Congress debating both an infrastructure bill and a budget reconciliation package, now is the time to demand an expansion of Housing Choice Vouchers so families don’t need to wait years to receive the housing assistance they desperately need. Write to your members of Congress today at https://actionnetwork.org/letters/take-action-demand-congress-expand-housing-vouchers-to-reach-millions-of-families-in-need!
Right now, some Democrats are demanding an expansion of the voucher program be included in the infrastructure package so that all who qualify can receive immediate assistance to clear the years-long backlog and reach those who have been shut out of the application process entirely.3
With only one in four eligible households receiving this critical voucher assistance, we need an immediate investment to keep people and families safe and in their homes.
Thank you for taking action today.
1 https://www.census.gov/data/tables/2021/demo/hhp/hhp33.html
2 https://www.cbpp.org/research/housing/families-wait-years-for-housing-vouchers-due-to-inadequate-funding
3 https://www.rollcall.com/2021/07/01/democrats-hope-to-expand-housing-vouchers-on-infrastructure-bill/
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