Awareness of federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA)—which covers back rent, future rent, utility arrearages, future utility costs, and other expenses incurred as a result of the pandemic—has grown dramatically with the slow but steady increase of fund allocation. Despite this, many landlords and tenants are still unsure of whether they qualify, and they are not applying—which means people who need assistance still aren’t getting it.

We have been partnering with Avail, an online platform that serves mom-and-pop landlords, to understand the barriers landlords and tenants are experiencing when trying to access ERA. Recently, we analyzed the September survey results to explore the factors that influence ERA applications.

Now that the federal eviction moratorium has ended, some landlords are starting to consider evicting overdue tenants. Additional outreach to landlords and tenants is urgently needed and should focus on what the assistance covers and who is eligible to apply.

In the February 2021 survey, we found just over 30 percent of tenants and 48 percent of landlords were aware of the ERA. This number increased in the May survey, and we saw an even larger jump in the September survey (particularly among landlords), with 78 percent now aware of the assistance.

Read the full article about renter assistance by Jung Hyun Choi, Laurie Goodman, and Daniel Pang at Urban Institute.