HUD Expands Its Eviction Grant Program

The U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has made available $20 million in new grants for its Eviction Protection Grant Program, doubling the amount originally allocated for the launch of the Program last November.

“The American people have been resilient in the face of historic challenges as we continue to confront the impacts of COVID-19,” said HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge. “We need to keep doing all that we can to help people maintain quality housing. We know that access to legal services and eviction diversion programs works. It helps people avoid evictions and protects tenants’ rights. Legal services also help landlords access available resources to address rent arrears. We are proud to expand the Eviction Protection Grant Program so that more families have access to eviction protection services.”

HUD has offered grants to 11 organizations, in addition to the 10 organizations selected in November, to assist non-profits and governmental entities with legal assistance to low-income tenants who are at-risk of or subject to eviction.

Grants will be awarded by HUD to the following:

The Eviction Protection Grant Program is part of HUD’s work, as part of a whole of government approach, to support families recovering from the public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. State and local Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) grantees have made over 5.2 million payments to households and spent or committed well over $30 billion in rental and utility assistance, along with other support through the program. Additionally, state and local governments have already used Fiscal Recovery Funds provided by the American Rescue Plan to provide additional rent, mortgage, or utility assistance to over 700,000 households and have provided eviction prevention services to more than 100,000 households in 2021. And due to the Administration’s continual promotion of eviction diversion programs, including through multiple eviction prevention summits in 2021, there are now approximately 100 eviction diversion programs in existence nationwide. As a result of these efforts, the Eviction Lab estimated that millions of renters avoided the threat of eviction in 2021.

Through HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research, these grants were made available to legal service providers serving areas with high rates of eviction or prospective evictions, including rural areas.