COVID Relief Bill Provides Critical Housing Assistance

mini house held in palm of person's hand with blurred green plants background

The COVID-19 relief bill currently in Congress would provide essential housing assistance for millions of older adults and families struggling to pay rent and avoid eviction, as well as funding to address homelessness. This is critical, as evictions unnecessarily put lives at risk and strain our already overstretched public health systems. In fact, evictions occurring between the beginning of the pandemic and the issuance of the CDC moratorium in September 2020 led to more than 400,000 more COVID-19 cases and nearly 11,000 additional deaths.

The COVID relief bill housing-related provisions include, as summarized by our partners at Justice in Aging: 

  • $19 billion in emergency aid for low-income renters 
     
  • $5 billion for Housing Choice Vouchers for people leaving homelessness and renters at greatest risk of homelessness if they lose their current housing 
     
  • $5 billion for homelessness assistance through the HOME Investment Partnerships Program 
     
  • $750 million for housing assistance to tribal nations and Native Hawaiians 

The Biden Administration has also extended the homeowner foreclosure moratorium and forbearance protections through June 30, 2021 and has extended the federal moratorium on residential evictions to March 31, 2021. California Health Advocates has signed the letter below, joining over 2,000 organizations and elected officials in urging the Biden administration to extend, improve, and enforce the current CDC eviction moratorium until the end of the pandemic. 

Read the full letter here.

Karen Joy Fletcher

Our blogger Karen Joy Fletcher is CHA’s Communications Director. With a Masters in Public Health from UC Berkeley, she is the online “public face” of the organization, provides technical expertise, writing and research on Medicare and other health care issues. She is responsible for digital content creation, management of CHA’s editorial calendar, and managing all aspects of CHA’s social media presence. She loves being a “communicator” and enjoys networking and collaborating with the passionate people and agencies in the health advocacy field. See her current articles.