Politics

Vast Majority Of COVID Rental Assistance Funds Remain Unspent With Millions Behind On Rent, Biden Administration Says

Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Thomas Catenacci Energy & Environment Reporter
Font Size:

The Biden administration acknowledged that just 11% of Congress’ rental assistance funds has been distributed to renters.

U.S. renters have received just $5.2 billion of the $46.6 billion in funds that Congress appropriated for the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program in the two most recent pandemic stimulus packages, according to data released by the Department of the Treasury on Wednesday. The Biden administration has repeatedly shifted the blame to states, which it says have fallen behind on disbursing the assistance to low-income renters facing potential eviction.

“Treasury continues to use every lever at its disposal to urge states to distribute assistance to renters and landlords swiftly,” the agency said.

The Treasury Department has given $25 billion and made 40% of the remaining $21.6 billion in ERA funds available to states. (RELATED: ‘Not The Answer’: Landlords Slam Biden’s Eviction Moratorium Extension, Ask Federal Court To Intervene)

States have steadily picked up the pace in disbursing ERA funds to residents who meet the federal government’s qualifications for receiving assistance, but have still failed to efficiently get funds into the hands of those in need, according to the Treasury data. Virginia and Texas, which have had the most success distributing the rental assistance, have awarded 53% and 46% of their allocated funds as of July 31.

But the majority of states have disbursed less than 14% of the ERA funds given by the federal government, the data showed. Rhode Island, Delaware, Wyoming, Oregon, North Dakota and South Dakota have disbursed less than 5% of their available rental assistance funds.

Activists hold a protest against evictions on Aug. 11 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Activists hold a protest against evictions on Aug. 11 in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

“One of the biggest challenges many state and local government programs continue to face in getting assistance to renters and landlords is application processing delays,” the Treasury Department said. “According to public dashboards, hundreds of thousands of applications are in the pipeline beyond those that have already been paid.”

Meanwhile, the Supreme Court is expected to soon rule on the constitutionality of the eviction moratorium extension recently issued by the Biden administration. The high court previously upheld the moratorium, but indicated it couldn’t be extended beyond July 31 without congressional authorization.

About 12 million Americans said they had little to no confidence in being able to make their next rent payment, according to a recent Census Bureau survey. More than 7.9 million renters said they are behind on rent in the same survey.

House Financial Services Ranking Member Patrick McHenry has blamed the Biden administration for the slow pace of rental assistance distribution.

“The Biden Administration is failing to provide Emergency Rental Assistance to Americans in need,” McHenry told the Daily Caller News Foundation last month. “With millions of families worried they’ll lose their homes … we need to act now to correct this gross mismanagement.”

“But instead of working with us, Democrats are more focused on their progressive agenda — leaving renters twisting in the wind,” he added.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel