New Treasury Guidance Aims to Speed Rent Relief Payments to Landlords; Eviction Moratorium Extended through July
Yesterday, The Biden administration released a set of federal eviction and foreclosure extensions as part of a broader interagency initiative to support renters and homeowners, prevent evictions, and further develop eviction diversion programs amid the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The U.S Department of Treasury also issued important new guidance in an effort to support the ongoing deployment of the nearly $47 billion in available Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) by states, territories, and local governments. The guidance is an important step to ensure the proper disbursement and allocation of ERA for landlords, tenants, and investors.
The Treasury department has made the following materials available for more information:
Treasury’s guidance also aims to streamline payment options for large landlords to make accessing emergency rental assistance on behalf of multiple tenants easier and more attractive. Specifically, the FAQs aim to encourage economies of scale by obtaining information in bulk from landlords with multiple units to help speed determination of relief eligibility and bundle multiple payments together.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Thursday also extended the national moratorium on evictions through the end of July, providing renters an additional month of federal protection. The moratorium was previously slated to expire on June 30, 2021 and has been in place since September of 2020. In her announcement, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said that “this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium.”
We have been working with Treasury officials and members of Congress for months now in an effort to facilitate this guidance and quicken the pace of rent relief and payments to landlords to relieve financial stress for landlords and other investors.
Treasury’s guidance is a good step to address questions about the ERA program. However, we continue to urge the Treasury Department to end the federal eviction moratorium, streamline the process for distributing rental assistance payments, and to vigorously oversee the distribution of those payments.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Tony or me.
Thanks,
Anya Coverman
SVP, Government Affairs and General Counsel
Institute for Portfolio Alternatives