"We've been kicking the can down the road," explains Christopher Spence, a housing expert who has worked in the industry since 1992. He's referring to rent and fees some tenants are delaying paying off, due to pandemic-related hardships. Protections have kept them housed, but the rent will eventually come due. "Just because landlords are not moving forward with eviction doesn't mean tenants don't have fees accruing," Spence says.
Courses at the NeighborWorks Virtual Training Institute, to be held August 23 to 27, will instruct housing experts on how to best help with counseling, eviction and foreclosure prevention, and how to help tenants navigate a patchwork of solutions. Along with moratoria and executive orders, states and counties offer various protections of their own, explains Spence, who teaches Counseling and Eviction Prevention in Times of Crisis. "Even with the rollback of the eviction moratorium, some states are still offering additional protections. We try to make sure counselors in those states know that they have a fallback."
Spence points out that along with renters and homeowners, landlords are facing tough times, especially mom-and-pop landlords who invested in property to build wealth, only to find that they can't collect rent or evict residents. "COVID has turned this business model upside down," he says. "What happens when a tenant can't pay and the landlord can't pursue a remedy?"
NeighborWorks network organizations that function as property managers are aware of some rental assistance available for tenants, and help tenants apply. But there may be some programs they miss. Spence tells organizations where to look. He advises them to counsel mom-and-pop landlords, too, on how to help tenants apply for resources. "We can look at landlords as the collaborator, not the adversary," he says.
Awaiting distribution
Laurie Goodman, a researcher with the Urban Institute, relates that of the more than $46 billion in rental assistance allocated by the U.S. Treasury, only a little over $3 billion has been dispersed. Reasons include distribution difficulties at federal, state and local levels, a delayed approval process and complicated forms. Meanwhile, 15.5% of approximately 44 million renter households are behind on rent, according to a survey from the U.S. Census.
"People are unaware of the assistance, and they're unaware if they even qualify," Goodman says. Her research found that 65% of landlords were unsure of their eligibility. Applications require many data points, and require the landlord and tenant to work together. Goodman agrees with Spence. "Your landlord is your partner."
Letting people know about assistance possibilities, as instructors are doing in the NeighborWorks courses, can make a difference. "Explain to people what the procedures are for applying, help them get an idea if they can qualify," Goodman says. While awareness about assistance is on the rise, her research shows 57% of tenants and 40% of landlords were still unaware of the historic federal assistance. Less than 6% of landlords and 11% of tenants said they had applied for it.
Keeping up with changes
Navigating the pandemic, moratoria and funding can be tricky and ever-changing. As NeighborWorks Chief Operating Officer Susan M. Ifill has said: Renters have to have a plan. Housing counselors need a plan, too.
Spence wants to make sure housing leaders know as much as possible so they can help families. "What can they do to better prepare their organization? What partnerships can they find to be sure they're looped into everything that's available?"
Solutions may include linking residents to assistance outside of rent, with food resources, for example. "We want to educate our counselors on what's available in different markets," Spence says. Often, during class, students educate each other through peer sharing. "They'll walk away with a better understanding of the options they have to help find a solution to the crisis."
Spence has changed his class every time funding and protections have changed, like they did at the beginning of August. (The federal eviction moratorium was scheduled to end July 31, but the Biden administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put a two-month ban on evictions in parts of the United States that are experiencing a substantial spread of COVID-19.) "This is an area of flux," he says. "We still have a huge mountain in front of us."
Ann DiPetta is teaching, "Counseling Rural Clients on Eviction and Foreclosure Amidst COVID." Like Spence, she says details are constantly changing – sometimes over the course of a class period. "There's an extra challenge for rural communities," DiPetta adds.
Part of that challenge centers around the digital divide. This has been a real struggle in rural communities that lack internet access during a time when everything was becoming virtual. "People were working remotely or applying for unemployment online or applying for jobs online." A lack of internet became a huge obstacle.
Some community organizations – including NeighborWorks network organizations – helped by providing WiFi hotspots in parking lots or on school buses. A PBS station in Arkansas showed school classes online. Meanwhile, in Ithaca, New York, INHS scrambled early on to provide rental assistance before the federal and state governments offered options. But more assistance was needed.
During her course, DiPetta provides updates on the COVID-19 response, basic details on available funding and programs and how to get creative when necessary. Her class also looks at USDA programs and at challenges facing rural areas, including the digital divide, transportation and access to food assistance.
"One of the biggest challenges is keeping track of all the changes," says DiPetta, who has lived in rural New York for 26 years. Classes available at the VTI are "a next level of support for the practitioners who are out there doing the work to help people stay in their homes." With the end of the federal eviction moratorium in sight, housing counselors may have to shift to eviction prevention, foreclosure prevention, relocation assistance and finding emergency shelters. "Practitioners need more of a toolkit to help people maintain stable housing," DiPetta says. NeighborWorks courses are a part of that toolkit.
08/11/2021
