Millions of households are behind on rent as federal aid trickles out

Millions of Americans behind on rent are still not getting the assistance they need fast enough, the Treasury Department said Wednesday. Another $1.68 billion in federal rental assistance went out in July, only a small fraction of the funds made available by Congress.

Just $5.1 billion of the first $25 billion round of rental assistance, passed in December, has gone to those in need amid fear of evictions and the federal moratorium remains in legal peril. An additional $21 billion was passed in March, meaning roughly 89% of all rental assistance money has not gone out. More than 7.9 million households are behind on rent, according to the latest Census Bureau data from early August. Of those, more than 3.5 million said they were very or somewhat likely to be evicted in the next two months.