We applaud you for seeking federal resources and for identifying an additional $19 million for our local Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). The federal government gave DC just $17.8 million in ERA funds and $14.6 million in Low Income Home Emergency Assistance Program (LIHEAP) funds. In November, you asked the federal government for $238.7 million in additional federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds to help avert an eviction crisis for the next 4 months. DC Needs at Least an Additional $187 Million to Stave Off an Eviction and Utility Cut Off Crisis For At Least 4 Months We ask you to quickly identify and allocate funding to meet these critical needs using the budget powers under your authority. Eviction prevention and RRH extensions also promote a racially equitable recovery as people of color, especially Black people and immigrants, have faced higher risk of coronavirus infection, unemployment, and eviction during the pandemic. Preventing evictions is a key to avoiding significant socioeconomic setbacks for adults and children and preventing community spread of COVID-19. The stakes are too high for DC to accept insufficient eviction prevention efforts and the termination of families from RRH. DC can pair new federal dollars with local resources to immediately and adequately meet this challenge head on, including the use of reserves, a portion of the hefty fiscal year (FY) 2021 surplus, and/or other available funds. Landlords are filing evictions, despite DC having growing resources to do more to help tenants catch up on rent. A spike in evictions will deepen DC’s stark racial inequities and weaken our economy, holding us all back. We, the undersigned 38 organizations, are writing to urge you to use DC’s growing revenues to immediately address the eviction crisis that stands to harm over 40,000 adults, including at least 350 families who are facing termination from Rapid ReHousing (RRH) starting in March and April.
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