Congress and the White House came to an agreement overnight on the contents of the next COVID-19 response bill. The $2 Trillion package includes the following for housing resources:
- $4 billion in Emergency Solutions Grants (ESG) to assist homeless shelters and outreach workers to keep people who are homeless safer from coronavirus
- $5B in CDBG (can be used for rental assistance)
- Public Housing: $685M
- $1.25B in Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (TBRA)
- $1B in Project-Based Rental Assistance (PBRA)
- $300m in Tribal Housing Grants
- $120m for Section 202, Section 811, and HOPWA
- $2.5m for fair housing
- an additional $30B in Disaster Relief Funds that can supplement some ESG and CDBG uses
The text of the bill is forthcoming, expected to be over a thousand pages. We will share more details as they become available.
Thus far, the bill does not appear to contain a national eviction or foreclosure moratorium. Here is video of Diane Yentel from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition on C-SPAN this morning, explaining some of the needs the pandemic is creating and/or deepening.
The bill is expected to be voted on in the Senate this afternoon. Assuming passage, it will then move to the House. Congress and the White House hope to enact this bill by the end of the week.
Local Check-Ins
The Coalition is hosting on-going Local Check-In calls to discuss the impacts you are seeing in your community, answer questions, and share information. Please visit this link to sign-up for a call.
