The number of low-income renters at immediate risk of losing shelter remained relatively low in the month since the Supreme Court struck down a national eviction moratorium, as a troubled $46.5 billion federal rental aid program showed signs of kicking into high gear. The Treasury Department disbursed more than $2.3 billion in rental assistance to about 420,000 households in August, the most of any month since the cash was allocated by Congress over the past two years, according to data released Friday by the department. That was a significant improvement over the $1.7 billion and $1.5 billion handed out in July and August through the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, bringing the total paid out to around $8 billion, and the number of households helped to over a million. But the amount is still a fraction of the total available. Biden administration officials are still struggling to speed the flow of the cash, pressuring lagging localities — like Florida, South Carolina and Tennessee — to streamline applications in order to pay landlords as quickly as possible to prevent evictions.

Source: New York Times September 24, 2021 16:18 UTC