September 9, 2024

City Emergency Rental Assistance Funding Plummets as SF’s Escalating Eviction Crisis puts Families at Risk of Eviction and Homelessness

Today, housing advocates and community leaders with the People’s Budget Coalition are sounding the alarm as the lack of funding for the City’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) continues to worsen San Francisco’s eviction crisis. We are deeply concerned by the City’s failure to release promised funds for vital services like eviction prevention, workforce development, emergency housing vouchers, and rental assistance. This inaction is placing thousands of San Francisco families at immediate risk of homelessness and financial devastation. We are now over two months into the new fiscal year, and the promised funding addbacks remain undelivered. The organizations that serve these residents are already struggling to deliver critical services without the funding they were promised, and many are now facing staff layoffs and program closures

The ERA program’s funding dropped dramatically this year due to expiring COVID funds. But the need remains the same – rental assistance is required to settle most eviction cases – and without it, tenants will lose their housing and face potential homelessness. Without sufficient funding for SF ERAP, thousands of families are being pushed to the brink of eviction, unable to access the support they desperately need.

SF ERAP was designed to provide crucial assistance to tenants struggling to make rent in the wake of the pandemic, but advocates say the city’s slow and ineffective distribution of funds is failing to meet the urgency of the crisis. Applications for rental assistance continue to flood in as families face escalating eviction threats. Funding this program must be a priority in order to prevent a tsunami of evictions.

“The money is there. The need is there. The only thing missing is action.”

Daniel Casanova, Executive Director of the Eviction Defense Collaborative (EDC) explains the dire impact the lack of rental assistance will have on tenants: “Evictions have returned to pre-pandemic levels with approximately 250 new evictions filed each month. There are over 3000 open eviction cases in SF right now–and the majority require rental assistance to repay the back rent owed. The City’s homelessness prevention strategy relies on the success of the Tenant Right to Counsel program (TRC) – which EDC implements. This program ensures tenants in SF are paired with an attorney when facing eviction. But without rental assistance, no matter their efforts. This is putting thousands of families at immediate risk of losing their homes and will create a homelessness crisis like we have never seen before”

“This is an unacceptable dilemma. The city has invested millions in the Tenant Right to Counsel Program and it’s been a tremendous success – in fact 92% of tenants represented by TRC avoid eviction. But without rental assistance funding, the program’s effectiveness will be sabotaged. Every day that passes without action is another day that families face the threat of eviction and homelessness. We’re calling on Mayor Breed to allocate critical funding to make the SF ERAP program whole
and viable once again.”

With the city’s eviction moratorium expired and legal protections for renters dwindling, the need for an increase in funding for emergency rental assistance is critical. Advocates warn that the lack of funding is putting countless families, particularly low-income renters and people of color, at imminent risk of displacement.

“The SF ERAP funding dropped by more than 50% this year, with no plan in place to solve for the back rent that thousands of tenants still owe due to COVID related loss of wages” said Casanova. “The tenants served by EDC and our partners are extremely low income, from communities of color, and shockingly over 30% are disabled. These tenants and their families are choosing between paying rent or feeding their children, they are elders at risk of being displaced from the communities where they’ve lived for decades. The funding needed to restore the rental assistance program to last year’s funding level, close to $22 million, is not just a number—it’s the difference between security and catastrophe for thousands of San Franciscans.”

Community groups and tenants’ rights organizations are ramping up pressure on City Hall, with planned actions to demand that Mayor Breed immediately allocate funds to restore the ERAP program and get them to those who need them.

“The money is there. The need is there. The only thing missing is action. We trust that Mayor Breed will do the right thing and find the funds to restore this critical program and keep families housed” said Casanova. “We need these funds to be released immediately to prevent further harm to our communities.”

 

The People’s Budget Coalition is a powerful alliance of 150+ community organizations and unions including the Budget Justice Coalition, Homeless Emergency Service Providers Association (HESPA), the Latino Parity and Equity Coalition, SF Rising, HOMEY, Supportive Housing Providers Network (SHPN), Council of Community Housing Organizations (CCHO), and Jobs with Justice San Francisco. These organizations serve impoverished people working towards a City budget that prioritizes working families and poor communities in San Francisco. We believe that the City’s budget should increase resources to address the unmet needs of the City’s most disenfranchised populations, and reflect these values by fully funding programs that ensure everyone has safe and affordable housing, stable employment with fair wages, sufficient healthy food, essential health care, quality early care and education and other investments including those that empower and develop communities. The City can afford these services by redirecting existing funds away from systems of oppression such as the police and sheriff and wasteful spending that does not invest in our frontline city workers.