America’s renters are facing a bleak winter. As of early November, 9 million of them were behind on their rent. Remaining COVID-19 unemployment insurance programs expire on December 26, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s nationwide eviction moratorium will end on December 31. And the prospects for additional federal support are uncertain.

While members of Congress are insulated from seeing the human costs of their actions—or lack of action—local governments do not have that luxury. Families unable to pay their rent will rely on services from their local government and nonprofits: lines wrapping around the block for free groceries, requests for help from neighborhood mutual aid societies, and potentially an increase in people living in their cars, vacant buildings, and public spaces.

To stave off the worst case scenario, local governments are increasingly turning to rent relief programs, dispersing a pot of funds as one-off grants to hard-up renters. The structure of these programs varies somewhat across cities: Some are intended to be used to pay rent owed, while others provide a security deposit and first month’s rent for renters who have been (or are in the process of being) evicted. In setting up these programs, cities must make a number of critical decisions about how to design and implement their policy. Thinking through policy goals, tradeoffs, and potential challenges upfront can improve programs’ effectiveness.

Cities that are creating rent relief programs for the first time and those that are expanding or modifying existing programs should spend some initial time determining what the goals of the program are, how best to achieve those goals, and forecasting some likely hurdles to implementation. Policies can vary in numerous ways; below are three of the larger decisions facing local governments.

  • Policy choice #1: Who is eligible to receive rent relief?
  • Policy choice #2: How will the city ration funds across eligible applicants?
  • Policy choice #3: What does the application process involve?

Beyond these specific elements of designing and implementing a rent relief program, cities should think about how these programs fit into their overall local housing ecosystem.

  • How do rent relief programs interact with other local housing programs?
  • One-time rent relief cannot substitute for long-term housing subsidies
  • Collect data, monitor performance, and tweak programs when necessary

Read the full article about rent relief programs by Jenny Schuetz at Brookings.