HUD has offered grants to 11 organizations, in addition to the 10 selected in November, to help non-profits and governmental entities provide legal assistance to low-income tenants at risk of or subject to eviction.
Tenants at risk include people of color who are disproportionately represented among those evicted, people with limited English proficiency and people with disabilities.
“The American people have been resilient in the face of historic challenges as we continue to confront the impacts of COVID-19,” HUD Secretary Marcia Fudge said in a release. “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.”
Through HUD’s Office of Policy Development and Research, these competitive grants were made available to legal service providers serving or expanding services in areas with high rates of eviction or prospective evictions, including rural areas.
The first cohort of grantees funded by the program are implementing a total of seven statewide programs (Connecticut, Florida, Idaho, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana and Utah) as well as two regional (Northwestern Ohio and Western New York) and three local (Albany, Atlanta and Las Vegas) programs. This expansion will support additional statewide, regional and local programs across the Northeast, Southern, and Western United States.
The Eviction Protection Grant Program is part of HUD’s continued work to support families recovering from the public health and economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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