Treasury Highlights American Rescue Plan Act Achievements on Second Anniversary of Its Passage
This week, the Treasury Department celebrated the second anniversary of the signing of the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), which authorized key emergency programs in response to the coronavirus pandemic and the economic fallout it created. State housing finance agencies have played an integral role in the implementation of the ARPA programs that kept Americans stably housed during the pandemic and facilitated the financial feasibility of housing development despite a volatile economic environment. ARPA-authorized housing programs include the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) 2 program (ERA 1 having been authorized in other legislation shortly before ARPA’s enactment), the Homeowner Assistance Fund (HAF), the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund (FRF), and the HOME-ARP program at HUD.
In conjunction with the anniversary, Treasury released a report that provides new data illustrating how ARPA programs at Treasury have supported immediate pandemic recovery and long-term economic growth. Highlights of Treasury’s ARPA anniversary report for affordable housing efforts follow.
The State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund
FRF provided $350 billion in flexible funds to more than 30,000 state, local, tribal, and territorial governments. According to NCSHA’s research, at least 30 states and DC allocated a portion of these funds to affordable housing activities, and state HFAs have played a critical role in its administration in most of those states. According to Treasury’s report, FRF governmental recipients have committed nearly $16 billion to more than 2,100 projects to meet housing needs, including more than $5.4 billion for housing development and preservation, and helped more than 3.6 million households with rent, mortgage, and utilities payments.
Much of the FRF commitment to affordable housing production and preservation was enabled by guidance Treasury released in July 2022 that streamlined FRF and facilitated its use with the Housing Credit. NCSHA and its HFA members played a key role in advocating for the change in this guidance. Treasury’s report highlights projects in several jurisdictions, including a program administered by the Idaho Housing and Finance Association.
Treasury also has created a new data dashboard and map highlighting projects that received FRF funding in every state, including affordable housing projects and activities.
The Emergency Rental Assistance Program
Treasury’s report describes how the $46.55 billion Congress authorized for ERA — $25 billion under ERA 1 enacted late in 2020 and $21.55 billion enacted in ARPA — helped to prevent 1.36 million eviction cases. While ERA 2 does not officially end until September 30, 2025, the vast majority of ERA funding has already been deployed to help renters struggling to remain in their homes or be rehoused. Treasury highlights how its guidance and reallocation process maximized and accelerated assistance for renters and how ERA catalyzed a broader expansion in lasting eviction-prevention infrastructure. According to the report, at least 180 jurisdictions across 36 states have launched or strengthened eviction diversion programs with ERA. Moreover, Treasury has provided flexibility to ERA grantees allowing them to use a portion of ERA 2 funds to finance affordable housing production, a flexibility for which NCSHA advocated. Lastly, the report notes how ERA helped to advance equity and reached historically marginalized communities. Extremely low-income renters received nearly two-thirds of ERA assistance, women received nearly 70 percent of the funds, and Black renters received nearly half of the funds. ERA was also a key resource in rural and tribal communities.
Treasury provides examples of successful ERA programs in the report, including the ERA program run by the Alaska Housing Finance Commission.
The Homeowner Assistance Fund
The report also touts the success of HAF, through which states, territories, and tribal governments provide assistance to homeowners impacted by the pandemic to help them avoid foreclosure. State HFAs administer HAF in just over three-quarters of states and territories. According to Treasury, more than 230,000 households received HAF assistance through 2022, helping to keep foreclosures below their pre-pandemic levels.
The amount of HAF funding distributed nearly doubled over three months last year. Further, based on data from state HAF program dashboards (dashboard links available here), Treasury projects the delivery of assistance has further accelerated in recent months. The report credits the program with effectively delivering assistance to low-income and traditionally underserved communities, noting that 57 percent of homeowners assisted were very low-income (at or below 50 percent of area median income). In addition, 35 percent of HAF recipients were African American, 20 percent were Latino, and 64 percent were women.
The report outlines several steps Treasury has taken to help HAF agencies implement their programs, including working with federal homeownership programs to ensure their loss-mitigation policies and procedures allow homeowners to receive HAF assistance. Treasury also highlights HAF best practices and specifically praises California for its outreach to underserved communities, Nevada for using data to inform its program design decisions and for its efforts to follow up with applicants who don’t complete their applications, and Michigan for partnering with the state’s 211 phone service to ensure it had adequate customer service capacity.
