Press Release: DC Council Unanimously Calls on the US Treasury and Mayor Bowser to Provide Additional Rent Relief to District Families

News Release — Ward 4 DC Council member Janeese Lewis George

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, December 7, 2021

MEDIA CONTACT

Alex Taliadoros

WASHINGTON, DC – Today the Council of the District of Columbia unanimously passed a Sense of the Council resolution introduced by Ward 4 Councilmember Janeese Lewis George and nine colleagues calling on the U.S. Treasury to provide the District with additional rental assistance – and calling on Mayor Bowser to dedicate local funds toward preventing widespread evictions in our communities.

“DC has a homelessness crisis, a displacement crisis, and an affordable housing crisis — all of which will be exacerbated if we stop providing rent relief to the thousands of DC families who are struggling to keep up with rent. We need Mayor Bowser and the U.S. Treasury to act in order to keep DC residents housed,” said Councilmember Janeese Lewis George.

Faced with overwhelming need caused by the pandemic and its economic impact, the District worked diligently to effectively distribute its share of federal rental assistance within the timeline set by the Treasury. Now as the U.S. Treasury weighs how to reallocate untapped federal rental assistance across cities, counties, and states, it should not neglect the great and urgent needs of DC residents who fell behind on rent and continue to struggle to make rent.

As part of the approved Fiscal Year 2022 budget, the Council boosted local rental assistance funds in the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to $14 million. ERAP provides finances to low-income renters to prevent evictions similarly to STAY DC, but can also cover security deposits and pre-pandemic arrears. However, ERAP runs out of funds early every year, and this coming year will be no different. Without additional funding, DC residents could soon be left without rental assistance even as many continue to struggle. While the Council can approve additional appropriations to prevent evictions, the Mayor must initiate the programming of such spending. Ultimately, rental assistance funds are needed to protect tenants from evictions and make landlords whole.

Nearly 60% of all D.C. residents are renters, including approximately 65% of Black households and 70% of Latino families. Even prior to the COVID pandemic, nearly half of D.C. renters struggled to keep up with rent payments — and almost 60% of all executed evictions in the District took place in Ward 7 and Ward 8. Evictions disproportionately hurt communities of color, which are also struggling with higher unemployment rates, lower vaccination rates, and more COVID deaths.

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