National Low Income Housing Coalition And Low Income Housing

ACHIEVE RACIALLY & SOCIALLY EQUITABLE HOUSING POLICIES FOR THE LOWEST-INCOME PEOPLE.

WITH A ROBUST #RENTRELIEFNOW ADVOCACY CAMPAIGN, NLIHC AND OUR THOUSANDS OF PARTNERS AROUND THE COUNTRY HAD ALREADY ACHIEVED AT THE END OF 2020 A BIPARTISAN COVID-19 RELIEF PACKAGE WITH $25B FOR EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE (ERA) AND AN EXTENSION OF A CDC EVICTION MORATORIUM. IN 2021, WE AND OUR ALLIES REDOUBLED OUR EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE OTHER EXTENSIONS OF THE MORATORIUM TO JUNE, JULY, AND AUGUST 2021 AND SECURED NEARLY $50B IN ADDITIONAL HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS RESOURCES IN THE "AMERICAN RESCUE PLAN ACT" IN MARCH 2021, INCLUDING $21.5B MORE FOR ERA FOR HOUSEHOLDS AT HIGH RISK OF EVICTION.NLIHC URGED THE ADMINISTRATION TO TAKE ACTION TO ADDRESS TROUBLING ROADBLOCKS IN ERA PROGRAMS, IDENTIFIED THROUGH NLIHC'S ERA RESEARCH, TRACKING AND ANALYSIS OF OVER 500 ERA PROGRAMS. IN MAY 2021, THE U.S. TREASURY PUBLISHED NEW ERA GUIDANCE WITH MAJOR IMPROVEMENTS RECOMMENDED BY NLIHC. SEE: HTTPS://BIT.LY/3YDXZYM. SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIALS AND NLIHC WERE IN FREQUENT COMMUNICATION (OFTEN MULTIPLE TIMES/WEEK) ABOUT FURTHER IMPROVEMENTS, AND TREASURY RELEASED SEVERAL ROUNDS OF SUBSEQUENT ERA GUIDANCE, FAQS, MODEL FORMS, ETC., TO EXPEDITE AND IMPROVE ERA PAYMENTS. THE ADMINISTRATION ALSO UNDERTOOK AN ALL-OF-GOVERNMENT INITIATIVE, ENCOURAGED BY NLIHC, TO PROMOTE EVICTION-DIVERSION EFFORTS NATIONWIDE. NLIHC LAUNCHED A MAJOR NATIONAL EFFORT IN 2021 - THE END RENTAL ARREARS TO STOP EVICTIONS (ERASE) PROJECT - TO ENSURE THE NEW $46.5B IN ERA REACHES THE LOWEST-INCOME, MOST MARGINALIZED RENTERS AND PEOPLE WITHOUT HOMES AS EFFICIENTLY AND EQUITABLY AS POSSIBLE AND TO PROTECT PEOPLE FROM EVICTION. ERA PROGRAM ADMINISTRATORS IN SOME STATES WERE SLOW TO ADOPT BEST PRACTICES (E.G., REDUCING DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS, USING SELF-ATTESTATION OF INCOME/NEED, DIRECT-TO-TENANT ASSISTANCE, ETC.) PROMOTED BY NLIHC AND, EVENTUALLY, BY TREASURY. OUR ERASE PROJECT - INCLUDING 38 STATE AND LOCAL PARTNERS WORKING WITH NLIHC ON THIS EFFORT AROUND THE COUNTRY - CONTINUES TO DO ALL WE CAN TO PRESSURE AND HELP ERA PROGRAMS TO IMPROVE; MANY HAVE ADOPTED ERASE RECOMMENDATIONS AND MODELS, AND ERA DISTRIBUTION TO THOSE IN NEED IMPROVED SIGNIFICANTLY. THROUGH DECEMBER 2021, $20.6 BILLION IN ERA HAD BEEN ISSUED TO RENTERS AND LANDLORDS IN NEED, KEEPING NEARLY 8 MILLION RENTERS IN 3 MILLION HOUSEHOLDS STABLY HOUSED. U.S. TREASURY DATA INDICATE THAT 66% OF BENEFICIARIES WERE EXTREMELY LOW-INCOME HOUSEHOLDS. IN ADDITION, NLIHC'S WORK WITH STATE AND LOCAL PARTNERS THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY RESULTED IN MORE THAN 130 NEW FEDERAL, STATE, AND LOCAL TENANT PROTECTIONS PASSED OR IMPLEMENTED IN 2021, RESULTING IN INCREASED HOUSING STABILITY FOR MILLIONS OF RENTER HOUSEHOLDS.NLIHC ALSO LAUNCHED A NEW HOUSED CAMPAIGN IN 2021 TO PUSH FOR ANTIRACIST POLICIES AND UNIVERSAL, STABLE, AFFORDABLE HOUSING FOR THOSE MOST IN NEED. NLIHC AND OUR MORE THAN 1,800 HOUSED CAMPAIGN PARTNERS SUCCEEDED IN GETTING THE HOUSE FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE AND THE SENATE BANKING, HOUSING, AND URBAN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE TO APPROVE RECONCILIATION LEGISLATION WITH MAJOR INVESTMENTS IN EACH OF THE HOUSED CAMPAIGN'S THREE TOP PRIORITIES: RENTAL ASSISTANCE, PUBLIC HOUSING, AND THE NATIONAL HOUSING TRUST FUND (HTF). NLIHC AND OUR PARTNERS AND ALLIES FOUGHT TO PROTECT CRITICAL HOUSING INVESTMENTS WHEN THEY WERE THREATENED WITH ELIMINATION AS THE OVERALL PACKAGE HAD TO BE PARED BACK TO GAIN CENTRIST VOTES. THE HOUSE EVENTUALLY VOTED IN NOVEMBER 2021 TO APPROVE THE "BUILD BACK BETTER ACT" WITH WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN AN HISTORIC $150 BILLION FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING PROGRAMS, THE HIGHEST ALLOCATIONS FOR THE HOUSED CAMPAIGN'S PRIORITIES: - $25B TO EXPAND HOUSING VOUCHERS TO 300,000 HOUSEHOLDS - $65B TO REPAIR/PRESERVE PUBLIC HOUSING FOR ITS 2.5 MILLION RESIDENTS - $15B FOR THE HTF TO BUILD/PRESERVE 150,000 AFFORDABLE, ACCESSIBLE HOMES FOR HOUSEHOLDS WITH THE LOWEST INCOMESUNFORTUNATELY, THE BILL STALLED IN THE SENATE DUE TO THE OPPOSITION OF THE BROADER PACKAGE (NOT SPECIFICALLY THE HOUSING ELEMENTS) BY ONE SENATOR.WE ALSO SECURED A $4 BILLION INCREASE TO HUD'S BUDGET IN FY22 COMPARED TO FY21 ENACTED LEVELS, INCLUDING ADDITIONAL RESOURCES TO FUND AN ADDITIONAL 25,000 NEW HOUSING CHOICE VOUCHERS. A KEY TO NLIHC'S SUCCESSES IN THE HOUSED CAMPAIGN HAS BEEN OUR ABILITY TO MOBILIZE THE AFFORDABLE HOUSING COMMUNITY AND INCREASINGLY OTHER SECTORS THROUGH OUR OPPORTUNITY STARTS AT HOME CAMPAIGN - ENGAGING THOUSANDS OF ADVOCATES IN MANY CALLS/WEBINARS, SIGN-ONS, ADVOCACY DAYS, AND OTHER CALLS-TO-ACTION. A FEW OF NLIHC'S ADDITIONAL PRIORITY EFFORTS IN 2021 INCLUDED:PRODUCING AND WIDELY DISTRIBUTING ONGOING RESEARCH, LIKE "THE GAP: A SHORTAGE OF AFFORDABLE HOMES 2021," "OUT OF REACH 2021, AND OVER A DOZEN OTHER RESEARCH REPORTS ON EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS, THE STATE OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRESERVATION IN THE U.S., AND MUCH MORE. LEADING THE DISASTER HOUSING RECOVERY COALITION (DHRC) OF OVER 850 ORGANIZATIONS TO ENSURE EQUITABLE HOUSING RECOVERY REACHES THE LOWEST-INCOME AND MOST MARGINALIZED COMMUNITIES TOO OFTEN NEGLECTED IN RECOVERY EFFORTS. IN 2021, NLIHC AND THE DHRC GOT FEMA TO IMPLEMENT NEW POLICIES TO ENSURE PEOPLE WITHOUT PROPERTY TITLE DOCUMENTATION CAN ACCESS THE HELP THEY NEED, AND WE ADVANCED TWO IMPORTANT DISASTER RECOVERY REFORM BILLS IN CONGRESS. GROWING AND EXPANDING THE INFLUENCE OF THE NLIHC-LED OPPORTUNITY STARTS AT HOME MULTI-SECTOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING CAMPAIGN AND ADVANCING THE CAMPAIGN'S PRIORITY HOUSING SOLUTIONS.KEEPING UPDATED AND WIDELY PROVIDING TO ORGANIZATIONS AND ADVOCATES ENGAGED IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRESERVATION THE NLIHC AND PARHC'S NATIONAL AFFORDABLE HOUSING PRESERVATION DATABASE OF ALL FEDERALLY ASSISTED HOUSING IN THE COUNTRY.CONTINUING TO GROW NLIHC'S LEADERSHIP IN MEDIA AND SOCIAL MEDIA COMMUNICATIONS. THE NUMBER OF MEDIA STORIES (PRINT AND ONLINE, TV, AND RADIO) AROUND THE COUNTRY FEATURING NLIHC'S RESEARCH AND EXPERTISE HAS GROWN FROM ABOUT 2,000 IN 2016 TO OVER 17,000 IN 2021!