COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Policy groups and housing advocates are applauding the approval of emergency rental assistance in Ohio, while cautioning additional dollars are needed by the end of the year.

The state has allocated $50 million in CARES Act funding for mortgage and rental assistance to families with overdue rent, mortgage payments or sewer and water bills due to COVID-19. Alison Goebel, executive director at the Greater Ohio Policy Center, said the economic fallout from the pandemic is disproportionately affecting low-income workers, a group already plagued by high levels of housing cost-burden.

"It's really scary. When you are housing unstable, you are likely to have a hard time finding a job. Your Children are having a harder time staying on top of school work," Goebel said. "We're also really worried about what that does to the quality of our neighborhoods, many of which are still recovering from the housing crisis 12 years ago."

The assistance will be available through local community-action agencies to families earning 200% or less of the federal poverty level. Ohio still has about $1 billion remaining of its share of CARES Act funding that must be spent by December 31.

Marcus Roth, director of communications and development at the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio, contends additional federal and state resources will be needed by the end of the year, when the CDC's eviction moratorium expires.

"Last month there were nearly 300,000 households just in Ohio that were behind on their rents. That's way above normal," she said. "So, if we want to make sure that people have a safe place to stay during this pandemic, we need our federal and state leaders to step up."

There are estimates that landlords in Ohio could see a rent shortfall between $544 million and $792 million by January 2021.

This story was produced in association with Media in the Public Interest and funded in part by the George Gund Foundation.




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Data from Maine's annual Point in Time homelessness survey has been released, showing 4,411 individuals were experiencing homelessness on Jan. 25 of this year, a sharp increase from the count the previous year.

Dan Brennan, director of the Maine State Housing Authority, acknowledged while there may have been an increase in people experiencing homelessness, the number also reflects a change in formula for the count.

It includes those in transitional housing, as well as those housed in motels and hotels through the federally funded rent relief program.

He said the more accurate data collection becomes, the better Maine will be able to tackle homelessness.

"We want homelessness to be as rare as possible," Brennan asserted. "We know that things are going to happen in life that cause people to lose their homes or to fall out of safe, stable housing. That's going to happen. But the issue is how long does someone remain in that situation?"

Nearly half of households who were counted as experiencing homelessness have at least one child, and nearly 40% are Black, brown or Indigenous, while less than 10% of Maine's overall population identifies as BIPOC.

Brennan added homelessness in Maine is largely concentrated in urban centers, such as Portland and Bangor.

"What we need to do is help support the communities that are around those areas and in more rural parts of Maine, so that people experiencing homelessness can at least stay in their own community," Brennan urged.

He noted it is one reason why Maine Housing has partnered with an organization called Community Solutions, to improve data collection and collaboration. They are creating what they call regional hubs, each with a hub coordinator who can help people in the area connect with services.

"Right now, we're in an environment where the availability of affordable housing units is very sparse," Brennan emphasized. "That's been a real challenge. But if we can get these hubs up and running and working and more robust than they historically have been, they will be a help to the homeless shelters that are in those particular areas."

Arkansas is declining most of the $146 million made available in a second round of Emergency Rental Assistance from the federal government. Critics of the move predict the decision will hurt families still struggling due to the pandemic.

Gov. Asa Hutchinson sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Treasury asking to take only 39% of the funds for "housing stability" programs. Hutchinson cited a strong economy and job market as reasons for rejecting the funds.

But Joyce Jones - a volunteer with Arkansas Renters United - said rental assistance has been a lifeline for lower-income families.

"This pandemic put a lot of pressure on a lot of families," said Jones. "A lot of families lost their jobs. Some people have recovered, in the sense of getting their jobs or getting a new job. These are minimum-wage jobs, and minimum wage does not pay the rent."

Arkansas still has $6.7 million in rental assistance left, but the state has closed its emergency Rent Relief Program application portal and there are no plans to reopen it.

A spokesperson for the Arkansas Department of Human Services said the state hopes to get approval to use these federal funds for job training, education and other services for families at risk of housing instability.

In the meantime, Little Rock's rental prices have grown more than 16% since March 2020. Jones said with money remaining in the emergency fund, her organization would like to see the state reopen the Arkansas Rent Relief Program.

"Some of these people end up living in their cars," said Jones. "And if we get these funds and keep distributing the funds to the people in need, then we're averting some of that disaster."

The state DHS says Arkansans can access other rental-assistance programs through the Emergency Solutions Grant, the Community Services Block Grant, and the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program - all of which are available through community action agencies.

Despite two years of government initiatives designed to provide financial aid and support to housing insecure residents, Wisconsin is still facing a shortage of affordable housing.

A new report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition found the state has just 34 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income households.

Brad Paul, executive director of the Wisconsin Community Action Program Association, said pandemic aid programs, while important resources for housing-insecure Wisconsinites, largely failed to address underlying systemic issues.

"The housing crisis that's described in this report and elsewhere certainly got put into overdrive during the pandemic, but it existed before the pandemic," Paul explained. "So it's a pretty safe bet to assume that once we're through this unique moment, we're still going to be faced with a housing crisis."

Paul argued it is up to lawmakers to help close the affordable-housing gap by investing in more affordable housing and other structural changes. In the meantime, he said the Wisconsin Help for Homeowners initiative can help people meet their overdue housing costs. Several counties, municipalities and local organizations also have their own local housing aid programs.

Paul contends it is a crisis with essentially two components: availability and affordability. Per the report, of Wisconsin's 187,000 extremely low-income renter households, nearly three-quarters spend more than half of their earnings on housing costs.

"It really takes a report like this, and some others, that say 'Yeah, housing is expensive for everyone. But, boy, it's really intense at this ELI, or extremely low-income, level,' " Paul remarked.

A separate report from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition finds, on average, a person would need to make nearly $18 an hour to afford a two-bedroom apartment in Wisconsin, nearly three times the state's current minimum wage.