North Carolina distributes more than $200M in rental relief
(The Center Square) – North Carolina has disbursed $219 million of the $978 million it has received from the federal Emergency Rental Assistance program.
North Carolina received more than $702 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance under the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021, which was signed into law by former President Donald Trump in December.
The U.S. Treasury allocated $546 million to the state’s 12 largest counties. The General Assembly also gave the local counties $157 million from the state’s portion of the first allocation, leaving the state with $389 million.
The state received an additional $432 million from federal Emergency Rental Assistance under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, signed by President Joe Biden in March.
The Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions (HOPE) Program had allocated $283 million in 108,823 active awards and paid out $219 million to landlords and utility companies on behalf of 83,749 applicants from the funding as of Friday, said Laura Hogshead, director of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which administers the program.
Gov. Roy Cooper launched the HOPE Program last fall with Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding. According to a June 2 news release from Cooper’s office, the program awarded $133 million to more than 36,000 applicants in its first phase.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction ban, which was set to expire on Oct. 3. The court ruled only Congress has the authority to impose a nationwide moratorium.
Biden’s administration has since called on state and local officials to distribute the Emergency Rental Assistance “and to use all the flexibilities the law authorizes to get these funds to the people who need them.”
Federal officials also asked state and local governments to allow evictions for nonpayment only after landlords and tenants have applied for Emergency Rental Assistance funds.
About 1.2 million households are likely to face eviction for nonpayment of rent over the next two months, according to a recent U.S. Census Bureau of Statistics report. The U.S. Treasury reported spending more than $3 billion on the program from January through June.
The Cooper administration announced in July it would allow landlords to refer tenants to the HOPE program. The state also increased the rent award limit by 30%, starting Aug. 1. Officials said the change allowed the program to cover about 95% of all rent awards requested by tenants. The utility award limit increased by 100%, which covers nearly 90% of all past-due amounts requested by program applicants.
About 35% of workers in North Carolina rent their homes, according to recent National Low Income Housing Coalition data.
The crisis also has affected landlords who depend on the rental income. Greensboro Landlord Association Executive Director Jennifer Dille told The Center Square in an earlier interview the moratorium has pushed some landlords to sell their properties and leave the rental industry. She believed this would have a lasting effect on the affordable housing availability in the area.
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