Maryland DHCD’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program
The Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development is administering federal emergency rental funding in two ways, directly to local jurisdictions through the Maryland Eviction Partnership Program and to property management on behalf of tenants residing in affordable rental properties that received federal or state financing through the Assisted Housing Relief Program. Local jurisdictions are operating rental assistance programs independently, see here for each counties’ program details and directions for how to apply for assistance. As of July 31 2021, more than $58 million has been provided through Maryland DHCD’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to nearly 10,000 renters in the state of Maryland. Maryland will also receive an additional $352 million through a second phase of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program and is currently making plans for distribution.
Interested in Maryland’s relief fund distribution data? The Maryland DHCD launched its’ Emergency Rental Assistance Data Dashboard to track the progress local jurisdictions are making in distributing relief funds for tenants and landlords affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The dashboard which will be updated on a monthly basis to show progress focuses on the first round of funding through the federal ERAP that was launched in Maryland in May 2021. The dashboard has information on specific county programs, demographics and data on marketing and outreach efforts. To access the dashboard, visit rentrelief.maryland.gov and click on “Data Dashboard.”
Housing Finance Professionals, Developers, Policymakers, Academics, & Other Affordable Housing Stakeholders: The NHP Foundation & Enterprise Wants You to Participate in Their Survey
The NHP Foundation & Enterprise Needs You!
The NHP Foundation and Enterprise invites you to participate in their survey. The goal of the survey is to offer a comprehensive look at lessons learned over the last 10 years of affordable housing policy challenges, starting from the Great Recession, up until now. Findings will be presented this fall at the NHP Foundation’s 5th Annual Symposium, A Decade of Rental Housing Vulnerability: Lessons Learned from Financial Crisis to Coronavirus. The survey should take only 15 minutes and is available here. The survey deadline is September 24.
Invitation to Submit Proposals for Initiative to be Considered at the Heirs’ Property Prevention and Funders’ Forum
Heirs’ property occurs when a property owner dies intestate or with a will that leaves property to multiple beneficiaries, resulting in a fractured or entangled title. Left unresolved, this becomes a barrier to the ability to sell, collateralize, improve, or otherwise transfer the property. Because heirs’ property is disproportionately found in racial and ethnic minority, low-wealth, rural, and distressed urban communities, it is a critical barrier to minority homeownership and the creation of generational wealth and racial equity. As a significant contributor to blight and unrealized equity in poor neighborhoods throughout the country, the scale and pervasiveness of this challenge is shocking. For example, in the state of Georgia, $34 billion worth of tax appraised property is probable heirs’ property according to a 2017 USDA study. In 1980, the Emergency Land Fund estimated that 41 percent (3.8 million acres) of all Black-owned land in the Black Belt region was heirs’ property.
On December 2, 2021 in Atlanta, GA, the Funders’ Forum will seek to bring together potential funders with dozens of nonprofit and other organizations from 22 states and the District of Columbia. The intended outcome of this forum is to establish a capital, human, and organizational support basis for heirs’ property resolution and prevention pilot initiatives in the following areas: education and awareness; pro-bono legal services; academic research; local government innovation; and developer/contractor driven affordable housing initiatives. Potential funders, including philanthropic and other grant and resource providers, law firms, financial institutions, and builder and realtor trade groups, will have the opportunity to hear from nonprofits and other organizations as they pitch scaled pilot solutions to this group in an in-person and virtual environment. The forum has been designed to allow funders and organizations with initiatives in their market to connect and determine their mutual interest in funding a proposed solution.
Kaiser Permanente Announces a New RFP
In June, Kaiser Permanente sponsored a Regional Forum on Homelessness to foster collaboration among cities and counties in Greater Baltimore, suburban Maryland, DC, and northern Virginia to reduce the prevalence of homelessness. This regional collaboration is Kaiser’s answer to homelessness since people experiencing homelessness often cross city and county boundaries. In an effort to continue working to provide solutions to end homelessness, Kaiser Permanente intends to award at least two grant awards of $50,000 each before the end of 2021 to nonprofit organizations that are working to address homelessness in more than one city or county. The grant term will be from January 1, 2022 through December 31, 2022. The deadline for applications is September 9, 2021. The Request for Proposals is here, and you can also access the project budget template and logic model template, referenced within the RFP.
Celebrate Veterans Day with Montgomery County
Remember our veterans on November 11th! Montgomery County Coalition for the Homeless (MCCH) serves veterans in both its emergency shelter and permanent supportive housing programs. You can honor Veterans Day by providing a financial donation, donating a meal, or by donating items that our veterans need.
The winter holidays are also approaching and MCCH is working to adjust its holiday gifts and meal donations for clients to ensure the safety of all. If you, your family, or an organized group would like to provide a meal to our shelter or one of our programs for any of the upcoming holidays, please reach out to: volunteer@mcch.net
