September 2, 2021 Dow Constantine King County Executive King County Chinook Building 401 5th Ave. Suite 800 Seattle, WA 98104 RE: King County Treasury Rental Assistance Dear Executive Constantine, The King County Housing Justice Project and the Washington Multi-Family Housing Association demand King County make immediate changes to the Emergency Rental Assistance Program
(“Program”)
to ease requirements, streamline and speed distribution of rental assistance to affected families and housing providers in King County. It is long past time the County begin broadly distributing emergency rental assistance to families struggling to meet their basic financial needs in King County. The Program is overburdened by extensive and unnecessary requirements that slows distribution of rental assistance to families in need. These requirements create barriers, delays, and decrease participation in the Program denying assistance to families and housing providers in need of immediate emergency rental assistance. The County must immediately remove barriers and artificial delays to the Program. If the County fails to immediately remove these barriers, the undersigned organizations will jointly proceed with efforts to judicially require the County to reduce barriers and meet the minimum requirements established by the Department of Treasury to speed the delivery the rental assistance to affected families. This letter summarizes necessary and immediate changes to the Program that comply with the
Treasury’s Guidance and FAQ pu
blished on an on-going basis.
•
Make immediate estimated payments to applicants in the Large Landlord program to address longstanding rental arrears.
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1
ERA FAQ 8-25-2021, pg. 16-17 (In addition, to speed the delivery of assistance, grantees may adopt policies and procedures enabling landlords and utility providers to receive assistance based on reasonable estimates of arrears owed by multiple households, before their application and documentation requirements are satisfied. Specifically, a grantee may provide for payments based on such estimates if (1) the landlord or utility provider certifies that its estimate is reasonable based on information available to it at the time, (2) the grantee requires the landlord or utility provider to receive all required documentation within six months, and (3) the landlord or utility provider agrees in writing to return to the grantee any assistance the landlord or utility provider receives that the household was ineligible for or for which the required documentation is not received within six months. Grantees are encouraged to limit such
payments to a portion of the landlord’s or utility provider’s estimate (for example, 50 or 75 percent of the
estimated amount) to limit the risk of providing funds that are used for an ineligible purpose and
o
Treasury permits bulk payment based on reasonable estimates arrears owed by multiple households, before application and documentation requirements are satisfied.
•
Provide payment of up to 12 months rental arrears with 3 months prospective rent as authorized by federal law and Treasury Guidance.
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•
Clarify that tenants are not limited to three months of back rent if they do not have a written lease agreement; the Treasury Department limits tenants to three months of rent if the tenant has absolutely
no written verification
of the rental obligation, but permits grantees to accept other forms of proof such as a ledger or landlord attestation.
3
o
This is based on a misunderstanding of Treasury guidance, which stated that a tenant
who cannot provide any written information
about the rental obligation will be limited to three months of rent at 100% Fair Market Rent; it was not though requiring a formal lease in all cases for a tenant to receive more than three months of rent.
4
•
Process applications for households who make up to 80% AMI as provided for by Congress and the Treasury Department
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subsequently must be returned. If an estimated payment is subsequently found to have been used for an ineligible household or an ineligible expense, or if the required documentation is not timely submitted, the payment will be considered an ineligible use of ERA funds by the grantee.)
2
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116
–
260),
(ERA1) Sec 501(c)(2)(A) (“Such
assistance shall be provided for a period not to exceed 12 months except that grantees may provide assistance for an additional 3 months only if necessary to ensure housing stability for a household subject to the availabili
ty of funds.”).
3
ERA FAQ 8-25-
2021, pg. 6(“In the absence of a signed lease, evidence of
the amount of a rental payment may include bank statements, check stubs, or other documentation that reasonably establishes a pattern of paying rent, a written attestation by a landlord who can be verified as the legitimate owner or management agent of the unit, or other reasonable documentation as defined by the grantee in its
policies and procedures.”).
4
This limitation is not in the Congressional Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116
–
260), and Treasury appears to have created the limitation themselves. ERA FAQ 8-25-
2021, pg. 6 (”Written
Attestation: If an applicant is able to provide satisfactory evidence of residence but is unable to present adequate documentation of the amount of the rental obligation, grantees may accept a written attestation from the applicant to support the payment of assistance up to a monthly maximum of 100 percent of the greater of the Fair Market Rent or the Small Area Fair Market Rent for the area in which the applicant resides, as most recently determined by HUD and made available at https://www.huduser.gov/portal/datasets/fmr.html. In this case, the applicant must also attest that the household has not received, and does not anticipate receiving, another source of public or private subsidy or assistance for the rental costs that are the subject of the attestation. This limited payment is intended to provide the most vulnerable households the opportunity to gather additional documentation of the amount of the rental obligation or to negotiate with landlords in order to avoid eviction. The assistance described in this paragraph may only be provided for three months at a time, and a grantee must obtain evidence of rent owed consistent with the above after three months in order to provide further assistance to such a household; Treasury expects that in most cases the household would be able to provide documentation of the amount of the rental obligation in any applications for fu
rther assistance.”).
5
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116
–
260), Sec. 501(k)(3) (definition of eligible household).
o
Treasury permits rental assistance accessibility up to 80% AMI with priority for those earning 50% AMI or less. King County has limited eligibility to 50% AMI or less accessibility only.
•
When tenants are slightly over-income, permit the provider to also test by using Adjusted Gross Income to determine if the tenant may be eligible.
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•
Clarify that calculating income eligibility through current income at the time of application does not limit the grantee from issuing more than three months of arrears.
o
Congress indicated that if a grantee determined eligibility through another means besides 2020 income that the grantee would have to redetermine eligibility every three months
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•
Adopt “fact
-
specific” proxies for income approxima
tion per Treasury recommendations
8
o
Treasury guidance permits a grantee to “rely on a written attestation from the
applicant as to household income if the grantee also uses any reasonable fact-specific proxy for household income, such as reliance on data regarding average
incomes in the household’s geographic area.”
9
o
Examples could be that the tenant resides in a subsidized unit limited to households below 80% AMI, is facing eviction, has qualified for free legal services, can attest to a recent history of homelessness, or is from a zip code that historically sees high rates of eviction due to nonpayment of rent
•
Adopt self-attestation requirements to easily qualify tenants.
6
ERA FAQ 8-25-
2021, pg. 4 (“grantees may choose between using the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) definition of “annual income” in 24 CFR 5.6094 and using adjusted gross
income as defined for purposes of reporting under Internal Revenue Service Form 1040 series for
individual federal annual income tax purposes.”).
7
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (Public Law 116
–
260), Sec. 501. The provisions provides as follows: (C) INCOME DETERMINATION.
—
(i) In determining the income of a household for purposes of
determining such household’s eligibility for assistance from a payment made under this section
(including for purposes of subsection (c)(4)), the eligible grantee involved shall consider either (I)
the household’s total income for calendar year 2020, or (II) subject to clause (ii), sufficient
confirmation, as determined by the Secretary, of the house
hold’s monthly income at the time of
application for such assistance. (ii) In the case of income determined under subclause (II), the eligible grantee shall be required to re-
determine the eligibility of a household’s income after each
such period of 3 months for which the household receives assistance from a payment made under this section.
8
ERA FAQ 8-25-2021, pg. 5.
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Id.