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Home My WebLink About(0006) IR 22-051 - Emergency Rental Assistance Program UpdateINFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS No. 22-051 To the Mayor and Members of the City Council March 22, 2022 r Page 1 of 1 SUBJECT: EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM UPDATE The City of Fort Worth has contracted with Fort Worth Housing Solutions, Housing Channel, The Salvation Army, Samaritan House, the Center for Transforming Lives, and Cornerstone to disburse federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funds to eligible households that were unable to pay rent and/or utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Funds were first received in September 2020 and have come in several rounds of funding. As of March 1, 2022, the City's ERAP program has successfully disbursed $30,840,857 to eligible ERAP applicants and assisted 4,785 City households. However, the amount of funds requested by ongoing recipients and current applicants exceeds the amount of remaining funds, which total $28,193,111. Since November 2021, the City's ERAP program has averaged expenditures of $4.5 million per month. As of March 1, 2022, there are 5,856 applications in the following status categories: • 1,928 Under Review — Currently being reviewed by eligibility staff to determine eligibility • 1,208 Pending Information — More information is needed from the tenant or landlord to make an eligibility determination • 2,720 Application Submitted — These are applications submitted that have not been assigned due to a high caseload at each of our agencies Residents have received an average amount of $6,400 per application. Using average funds per application, we estimate that the amount needed to fund the applications currently in our application queue equals approximately $37.7 million, exceeding the available funds by a margin of $9.5 million. Staff does not anticipate any additional federal or state funds coming to the City to extend the program. As a result, there will not be enough funding to cover rental assistance for those that have submitted applications. Without objection, therefore, Neighborhood Services staff will proceed with closing the application portal for rental assistance effective March 31, 2022. The Neighborhood Services Department will continue to accept applications for applicants with an active eviction court filing until March 31. Staff will continue to process applications submitted prior to the March 31 closure date until all the funds are exhausted. Applications will be prioritized based on eviction status, income level, and application submission date. Applications received prior to the March 315T closure date are not guaranteed assistance, which is dependent upon applicants meeting the qualifications and funding availability. To ensure transparency with residents and applicants, we intend to communicate this closure to our applicants. The closure process will include conducting a media campaign to ensure City residents are informed, communication with the courts and eviction prevention partners, and careful redirection of applicants to other available resources. The attached presentation provides additional information about the program. If you have any questions about it, please contact Victor Turner, Director of the Neighborhood Services Department, at 817-392-8187. David Cooke City Manager ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS PROGRAM UPDATE Victor Turner, Director Neighborhood Services Department FORT WORTH EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE FORT WORTH. ERAP FUNDING OVERVIEW Texas ERAP 1,840,489 1,840,489 0 N/A January 2022 YES US Treasury ERAP 1 27,484,117 27,484,117 0 September 2021 September 2022 YES September 2025 US Treasury ERAP 2 29,071,786 10,878,675 18,193,111 March 2022 In Progress (will be spent by 9/22) Additional ERAP 1 allocation from US Treasury from Tarrant 10,000,000 TBD 10,000,000 Immediately September 2022 In Progress County FORT WORTH. 3 REMAINING ERAP FUNDS Total funding (all sources) Estimated total administrative cost expended/planned Assistance provided to residents using US Treasury ERAP 1 & 2 Assistance provided to residents using Texas ERAP $68,396,392 -7,521,934 Total of remaining funds $28,193,111 FORT WORTH. "Ir-- n CURRENT CASE STATUSES* Under review Currently being reviewed by eligibility staff to determine 2,478 eligibility Pending information More information is needed from the tenant or landlord to make an eligibility determination Application submitted These are applications submitted that have not been assigned due to a high caseload at each of our agencies *Case status as of February 28, 2022 1,657 1,721 A' FORT WORTH. CFW ERAP Monthly Average Average assistance oeLhousehold Funding remaining Total $ needed to cover all remaining submitted applications as of 2/28 # Applications awaiting assistan n PROJECTED EXPENDITURES $35,000,000 $30,000,000 $25,000,000 $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $0 February March April May June ♦Funds Expended ♦Funds Available ERAP Projected Expenditures @ $4.5M/month $1,193,111 July August FORT WORTH. HOUSEHOLDS ASSISTED ■ A\/FRArF AcSISTANCE TFRAP FXPFr\inITI IRES 410785 As of 2128122 EXPENDITURES FOR ERAS. $2714841117 DEADLINE.• 9.30.22 MET DEADLINE.• 12.1.21 $61400 Per household As of2128122 EXPENDITURES FOR ERA2 $1018781675 DEADLINE: 9.30.25 WILL MEET DEADLINE.• 8.1.22 $118401489 DEADLINE.• 01.01.22 MET DEADLINE : 11.30.21 TOTAL FUNDS DISBURSED $3018401857 EXCEEDING EXPECTATION ERAP ASSISTED RESIDENTS go 0 r m e m m w F.—W x�FH- 0000 0000 _ ERAP Households Assisted by District 900 844 803 779 800 699 700 595 600 500 392 400 324 349 300 200 100 0 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 District 8 District 9 $6,000,000 $5,000,000 $4,000,000 $3,000,000 $2,000,000 $1,000,000 ERAP 1 Expenditures by District $3,685,903 $3,498,602 $2,036,814 $5,023,524 $4,792,850 $2,390,175 $4,417,474 $2,524,523 District 2 District 3 District 4 District 5 District 6 District 7 District 8 District 9 FORT WORTH. 9 DEMOGRAPHIC BREAKDOWN Race 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 1% 0% American Indian or Alaska Native 0% Asian 67% 5% 0% _ Black or African Native Hawaiian Other Multi - American or Other Pacific Racial Islander 3% Refuse to Answer 23% White 0 Ethnicity % ■ Refuse to Answer ■ Hispanic or Latino Non -Hispanic or Latino FORT WORTH. 10 STATEWIDE PORTAL CLOSURES State of Texas CLOSED Arlington CLOSED Austin CLOSED Corpus Christi CLOSED Houston LIMITED FUNDS REMAINING - ONLY ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR RENTERS WITH ACTIVE EVICTION CASES San Antonio CLOSED $1,308,110,629.80 $1,079,786,857.20 - lillm� A $12,051,814.90 $9,536,037.00 $5,000,000 $29,578,788.20 $35,312,852.70 - $9,868,157.30 $7,808,211.00 - $70,109,464.50 $46,751,961.10 Brazos County CLOSED $6,925,863.90 Dallas CLOSED $40,597,544.60 Dallas County OPEN $27,067,799.50 Tarrant County OPEN $24,281,300.40 Fort Bend County CLOSED $23,249,662.10 Harris County LIMITED FUNDS REMAINING -ONLY ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS FOR RENTERS WITH ACTIVE EVICTION $73,758,724.10 CASES Travis County CLOSED $10,588,660.30 $86,068,150.20 $49,698,201.90 $8,961,076.50 $50,225,677.40 $37,942,392 $26,407,662 $18,396,369.50 $71,425,414.00 $8,378,311.40 $5,902,043 $4,569,336 ($15,000,000) * $2,387,897,487.00 $26,587,851.90 $64,891, 640.90 $17,676,368.30 $162,079,657.72 $101,019,499.00 $15,886,940.40 $90,823,222.00 $65,010,191.50 $35,688,962.40 $41,646,031.60 $8,619,210 $153,803,348.10 - $18,966,971.70 FORT WORTH. *Voluntarily Reallocated: *CFW - $10,000,000 *Arlington - $5,000,000 OTHER POTENTIAL SOURCES OF ERAP FUNDING Source Amount .- CDBG-CV Funds $1 Million Re -allocate from subrecipients that have failed to meet timeliness tests on funds. Could be available in May 2022 American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) $13 Million Remaining ARPA funds could be spent on assisting emergency rental Funds assistance clients and administrative costs. Note: US Treasury has not indicated there Unassisted applicants will be referred to: will be any additional funds available to Source Amount Notes cities. Community Action Partners (CAP) 1 $1.2 Million Texas hotline @ THHSC (211) 1 Unknown CAP has a small pot of annual rental assistance funds to assist their clients with significantly different rules than ERAP funding THHSC has a hotline that provides some rental assistance in certain cases FORT WORTH. 1. Add $1M in recovered CDBG-CV funds; or 2. Add $1M in recovered CDBG-CV funds PLUS $8.5MM in ARPA Funds $9,5481809 Existing Shortage FORT WORTH. THANK YOU FORT WORTH.