Originally published in Shelterforce<\/em>, the voice of community development<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Long before the COVID-19 pandemic, Black, Latino, and Native American renters faced disproportionately high rent burdens and housing instability. The pandemic has magnified these disparities as workers of color disproportionately work<\/a> in the industries and occupations that saw the greatest job losses, and communities of color experienced the highest COVID hospitalization rates<\/a>. While the recently passed coronavirus relief packages promise to provide critical help to many struggling renters, program administrators will need to make explicit efforts to ensure that this assistance reaches communities of color with high levels of need. Without such efforts, some groups will fall through the cracks as some tenants never get any information about the program, have uncooperative landlords, are hesitant to start or unable to complete complicated applications, or cannot provide the full set of required documentation. Take-up of social programs often falls short of need, and this is especially true for vulnerable groups. Emergency rental assistance is no exception. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drawing on both a survey of 220 \u201cfirst-generation\u201d COVID emergency rental assistance programs (about one-third of the roughly 530 local programs and 90 state or regional programs funded via the CARES Act<\/a> and other sources), and interviews with selected program administrators, the NYU Furman Center, the Housing Initiative at Penn, and the National Low Income Housing Coalition\u2014where we work\u2014 recently released a report<\/a> outlining steps that localities can take to advance racial equity in their programs. Here we highlight five of those key lessons. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prioritize Vulnerable Groups in Program Guidelines<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Localities might consider prioritizing applications from households that have fewer assets or those that live in disadvantaged census tracts. Programs can achieve prioritization in a variety of ways, including setting aside a specific share of funds for specific populations, providing assistance first to specific populations, or implementing a weighted lottery system for distributing assistance when resources are insufficient to meet all tenants\u2019 needs. For example, Philadelphia\u2019s COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance (CERA) program used a weighted lottery to allocate available assistance with a certain number of \u201cseats\u201d reserved for households located in high-poverty census tracts (those with poverty rates at or above 25 percent) and for families with children. The lottery was then calibrated to prioritize high-poverty ZIP codes and families with children. Similarly, cities might consider prioritizing small-building owners, who are less likely to have the resources needed<\/a> to manage long periods of non-payment and are more likely to be people of color.<\/a> <\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\t