As Boise-area rental relief dries up, feds seek to reallocate unused dollars in Idaho
Public housing agencies serving Ada County are nearly depleted of federal aid for vulnerable renters suffering financial hardships from the pandemic, and risk running out of COVID-19-related assistance if funding isn’t renewed next month.
The Boise City/Ada County Housing Authorities in February received about $24 million in U.S. Treasury Department COVID-19 emergency funds toward rental relief. Nearly all of those dollars have now been tapped for qualifying tenants past due on rent and utilities or unable to make payments for upcoming months due to COVID-19 impacts.
The housing authorities reported helping more than 3,000 households with those funds, with the vast majority going to low-income families at or below 50% of the area’s median income.
“The rent increases landlords have requested in this market have had a very detrimental impact on renters in general, but especially those in the lower-income stream,” said Deanna Watson, executive director of the housing authorities. “It’s sending a lot of people into dire straits.”
U.S. Treasury could reallocate $33.1 million in relief aid
The housing authorities could see more relief aid next month if the U.S. Treasury Department decides to reallocate funding that initially went to the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.
Another almost $176 million for these same emergency housing purposes for the rest of Idaho residents outside Ada County was awarded to the Idaho Housing and Finance Association. Through this week, the statewide agency has distributed $19.5 million of those funds to nearly 5,000 households. The balance of funding will need to be disbursed by the September 2022 deadline or be returned to the federal government.
After the housing authorities requested a reallocation, the Treasury Department last week pulled back $33.1 million from the statewide agency to redistribute it for use in Boise and Ada County, said Ben Cushman, an Idaho Housing and Finance Association spokesperson. The reallocation plan was first reported by the Idaho Capital Sun.
The city and county previously made the reallocation requests of the federal government based on the remaining statewide funds and respective distribution rollouts. While the funding is not yet guaranteed to be rerouted to the Boise City/Ada County Housing Authorities, it appears likely and could happen as early as January, Watson said.
“The Treasury put in the documents and if it pulls funding from an entity in a state, the first priority is to retain the funds for another entity administrating the same program and has met their expenditure ratios,” Watson told the Idaho Statesman. “And we’re the only other entity in the state of Idaho administering this kind of program.”
Distribution of the reallocated funds is expected to include an extended deadline of the end of December 2022 rather than the end of September, Watson said. Based on the rental relief program’s disbursement history, as well as the community’s ongoing need from rising rents, she thinks that’s enough time for the housing authorities to get the emergency funds into residents’ hands.
To be eligible, residents must make less than 80% of the area’s median income, which equates to about $60,000 in annual earnings for a family of four, and have experienced a documented loss of income due to the pandemic.
Idahoans ‘just don’t know money is out there’
Ali Rabe is the executive director of Jesse Tree of Idaho, an area nonprofit focused on homelessness prevention in Ada and Canyon counties. More than 800 households have been evicted this year between the two counties, she said, which has helped contribute to more than 3,000 Idahoans entering the homeless system of care in Ada County during that time.
Rabe, a former Democratic state senator, chalks up the slower release of emergency rental relief dollars to other corners of the state to tight eligibility constraints, in addition to a lack of awareness or access to the program.
“Those are probably the three big barriers,” she said in a phone interview. “A lot of people just don’t know money is out there. People across the state don’t know what IHFA is, and might not know what to Google and how to find it.”
Others in more rural areas lack sufficient internet access to submit required materials through the statewide online application portal, she said. But, through revised strategies — including partnering with nonprofits like Jesse Tree for outreach and use of its staffs to spread the word — more of those state funds could soon be spent toward bolstering distribution efforts.
Jesse Tree has through its own rental assistance program helped more than 800 households this year through a combination of government grant funding and private donations, to the tune of $1.75 million, Rabi said. Its remaining federal dollars must also be disbursed through rental assistance and covering case managers who work to help prevent evictions by the end of September 2022.
Jesse Tree’s program puts an emphasis on low-income residents, also making no more than 80% of the area median income, who may not qualify for other available rental relief.
With the U.S. Treasury drawback of unspent COVID-19-related emergency rental relief funds, the statewide program still has just over $123 million left, Cushman, the Idaho Housing and Finance Association spokesperson, said. As those dollars continue to go unused and the deadline to distribute them approaches, the U.S. Treasury will continue to review additional reallocations within the state to get money to landlords to keep residents who at risk of eviction housed.
“I don’t believe it’s a one and done thing,” Watson said. “I believe it’s ongoing until (the) money is expended to help families in need. We’re setup and administer assistance through the system we’re working with now for 10 months, and so we basically said we’ll take whatever we can get and we’ll get it to as many people as we can.”
For more information about eligibility requirements for Jesse Tree’s program, visit: www.jessetreeidaho.org/apply
