LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- Arkansas has made some changes to its state rent relief program to make it easier to distribute assistance to residents.

The modifications, announced last week by the Department of Human Services, came after several organizations in the state sent a letter to Gov. Asa Hutchinson and other officials, raising concerns about the application process and requesting requirements to be loosened.

The state will now prioritize applicants who received eviction notices and has increased staff to process cases faster.

Bill Kopsky, executive director of the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, which signed the letter, said the move by the state is a start, but more needs to be done, especially as the Delta variant continues to surge in the state.

"We're really near the peak of our infection rate during the whole pandemic," Kopsky observed. "And it's still getting worse. This is no time to be having people being booted out of their homes and onto the street, making the public health situation even worse."

Arkansas has distributed more than $9.8 million of the $173 million it received through the federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program. Residents in need of rent relief can sign up on the state Department of Human Services' website.

In the letter to state officials, they also ask judges to not penalize tenants for landlords refusing to accept rental assistance, which has been an issue in Arkansas.

Kopsky argued the change and others to the rent-relief program are critical to help people avoid eviction.

"This is a matter of life and death," Kopsky asserted. "We need them to hire many more people; navigators, to get this stuff out there. We need them partnering with community organizations all over the state to get the information about how to apply, how to qualify, some assistance to help people apply and get the money out the door. It's really an opportunity to protect our most vulnerable."

The changes come a week after members of Congress sent a letter to five states including Arkansas urging them to immediately speed up delivery of rental assistance.

DENVER -- A growing number of tents popping up in neighborhoods across Denver have made it harder to ignore a chronic and expanding housing crisis in Colorado and across the U.S.

An initiative approved for Denver's Nov. 2 ballot calls for the city to crack down on campsites, and to build sanctioned sites with running water, toilets and lighting on public property.

Cathy Alderman, chief communications and public policy officer at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, said the proposal amounts to an empty promise, because it fails to allocate land and other resources necessary to create safe outdoor spaces.

"We know camping-ban enforcements and extreme measures like the one proposed do nothing to resolve homelessness," Alderman contended. "They do not provide resources to get people into safe spaces and into housing."

Initiative 303, proposed by Garrett Flicker, chairman of the Denver Republican Party, would require written permission from owners to camp on private property, and the city would have 72 hours to respond to complaints.

Denver currently is not enforcing a camping ban already on the books. A county court ruled the law was cruel and unusual punishment in a case that could be taken up by the Colorado Supreme Court.

If voters approve Initiative 303, Alderman worries enforcement will fall hardest on the city's most vulnerable residents.

"Any time you have an enforcement mechanism that is targeted at people experiencing homelessness, it is going to disproportionately impact those who are more likely to experience homelessness, which often are people of color," Alderman explained.

Alderman pointed to a number of local, state and federal proposals meant to reverse decades of disinvestment in affordable housing as a better strategy to end homelessness. She said if the city implements 303, it actually will take resources away from motel vouchers and other tools that are effective in helping people find their way into permanent housing.

"So if the city is having to respond to every call about every tent every time someone sees one, they are not going to be able to send people out to resolve issues, they're just going to be sending people out to move people around," Alderman asserted.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California's eviction moratorium expires today, and advocates for affordable housing are urging people to apply for help, to stave off an avalanche of evictions and homelessness.

Danita Churchill, a single grandmother from East Palo Alto who says she fears imminent eviction, works part-time while caring for her infant grandson. She said she is grateful for the rental assistance she has received from the nonprofit Samaritan House because her landlord is trying to significantly raise the amount she pays for a one-bedroom apartment.

"Right now, my rent is currently $2,100," Churchill explained. "The asking price is $2,720 right now. And if I were to move out of my unit, they would charge over $3,000 for a one-bedroom unit."

People can go online to HousingIsKey.com to apply for the California COVID-19 Rent Relief program. The fund still has a lot of money. The state has paid out $650 million so far to 55,000 households, out of the original $1.5 billion in funding. Round two of funding means it will have another $1.5 billion to distribute.

Gina Dalma, executive vice president for community action, policy and strategy at the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which administers grants to nonprofits helping strapped renters in the Bay Area, said she fears mass evictions that will disrupt lives and cause untold suffering across California, particularly for families with children.

"When these people lose their homes, it will impact our whole community," Dalma asserted. "This just doesn't happen to everybody else, this happens to us. This is not somebody else's problem."

Dalma encouraged people to apply for aid immediately, before they get an eviction notice. Local legal-aid organizations are also mobilizing to help people fight to stay in their homes. A landlord cannot evict tenants right away if they have applied for assistance. The state will pay off past-due rent and also over three months' rent going forward.

LAS CRUCES, N.M. - A new apartment complex built to serve people who've been chronically unhoused in Las Cruces was three-quarters full when it opened last month. Advocates say it's proof that more permanent, supportive housing could help solve the growing problem.

Some of the 40 units at Desert Hope, operated by the Mesilla Valley Public Housing Authority, are still open for leasing, according to executive director Nicole Martinez. She said federal pandemic tax credits have made a difference in how local communities can help those who need housing.

"And I think it really shown a light on how quickly that can happen for people," she said, "and that homeless prevention funding is something that needs to stay on the radar, as it had not been before."

Martinez noted that Las Cruces is just cracking the surface with its additional 40 units. To qualify to live there, tenants must be verified as chronically homeless and have a permanent disability. In early 2021, the Department of Housing and Urban Development reported that, for the first time in many years, homelessness among veterans and families did not improve over the previous year.

Martinez, who has worked to end the cycle of homelessness for 15 years, said at least 1,000 more people have been served since the pandemic began. She said adequate resources can make a huge difference for anyone on the brink of homelessness, but added that she's worried about what the future holds.

"We anticipate seeing more people that aren't able to piece things together," she said, "or as rental relief and things like that start to dry up."

She added that community partnerships will allow quarterly health-care screenings, along with nutrition and budgeting classes for people living at Desert Hope, in an effort to help them transition out of homelessness. More information is online at mvpha.org.