2022-35 - Appropriate ERA funds to LCSC

Home Browse Search

Exhibit A Lakewood Community Services Center Funding Proposal ERA-1 Emergency Rent Assistance Program Introduction Even as the U.S. economy continues its recovery from the devastating impact of the pandemic, millions of American households, including hundreds of low- and extremely low-income Lakewood families, continue to face deep rental debt, eviction, and the loss of basic housing security. COVID-19 has exacerbated the affordable housing crisis that predated the pandemic. Households facing economic and housing insecurity before the pandemic, less able to weather business closures, job losses, and a decline in earnings, remain at grave, imminent risk losing their housing in its aftermath. The public health and economic impacts of the pandemic have fallen most severely on low-income communities and people of color for whom pre-existing social vulnerabilities magnify its negative impacts. Disadvantaged before the pandemic, these communities are experiencing significantly higher rates of unemployment and housing instability. Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 Emergency Rent Assistance Program (ERA-1) The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 included $25 billion to establish the Emergency Rent Assistance Program (ERA-1). Administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury, ERA-1 provides emergency rental assistance to low-income households suffering unemployment or other financial hardship due to the novel coronavirus pandemic. Earlier this year, approximately $50 million of the State of Ohio's $775 million award was reallocated to Cuyahoga County which has agreed to provide $609,459 in ERA-1 funding to the City of Lakewood. The Department of Planning & Development proposes entering into a contract in this amount with Lakewood Community Services Center (LCSC) to continue its Emergency Rent Assistance Program, heretofore supported by CARES Act and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) State & Local Fiscal Recovery funds. As depicted in the chart below, Lakewood Community Services Center has distributed $1,367,800 in CARES Act rent assistance to 762 low-income Lakewood households (1,430) persons and $1,361,235 in ARPA rent assistance to 514 households (1,122 persons) between July 1, 2020, and August 31, 2022. Funding allocated from these sources to address housing insecurity is now nearly exhausted.