Why $46 Billion Couldn’t Prevent an Eviction Crisis

As national eviction protections lapse, much of the rental assistance sits unspent. Aid was slowed by red tape, resistance from landlords and the difficulty of navigating an informal market. Does a lease on a napkin qualify?

For once, Washington seemed to get in front of a crisis. When the first wave of coronavirus spread across the country in the spring of 2020, it ravaged the economy, pushing millions of low-income tenants to the brink of eviction. Over the next year, Congress responded with a series of relief packages that included a $46.5 fund billion for emergency rental assistance. That represented one of the biggest infusions of federal housing aid in generations. But the promise of that help has long since given way to confusion and desperation as national eviction protections lapse with the vast majority of that rental assistance sitting unspent, precipitating the precise crisis Washington had hoped to avoid.