"Where's My Money?" Analysis of Federal COVID-19 Rent Relief in Washington Local Governments

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic upended the nation and triggered the largest approval and release of Federal rent relief since the 2008 Great Recession. However, in 2020 and 2021 only a small fraction of the Federal rent relief was disbursed to the renters and landlords who needed it; only 37% of the nearly $1.1 billion total aid in Washington. This program analysis uses a qualitative method of semi-structured interviews with staff in three Washington counties and the Washington Department of Commerce to better understand the challenges and strategies used to deploy emergency rent relief in Washington and to prepare a set of recommendations for future emergency rent relief programs.Challenges experienced in the development and deployment of emergency rent relief programs included general workplace struggles amid COVID-19 disruptions (such as moving to working from home, losing staff to burnout or illness, etc.), ambiguous and shifting requirements from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, lack of suitable infrastructure and systems to manage emergency rent relief applications and disbursement, and difficulties scaling programs to the size and budget demanded. Recommendations to address these issues include reducing ambiguity for program requirements and applicants, providing an option for a unified and supported system to manage aid programs, managing expectations regarding scale and expansion of programs with budget increases, and providing a single point-of-entry for applicants.