As federal aid for renters, a product of the federal government’s pandemic response, begins to wind down, more in the Lehigh Valley are now at risk of eviction.
Lehigh County saw eviction filings jump 8% in 2022, which could have been caused in part by the end of its rent relief program in August that year, experts say.
Now, as of May 15, Northampton County will no longer accept applications for emergency rental assistance, which provided direct payments to tenants who were at risk of eviction because they could not afford rent due to the pandemic.
Some nonprofit officials fear Northampton County could also see an increase in evictions now that its program has ended. Without the stream of federal funding to help pay rent, local housing organizations are pivoting to other methods to help keep people in their homes.
How rental assistance helped Lehigh Valley tenants
It remains difficult for Lehigh Valley renters to afford to live here.
Recent data from the Lehigh Valley shows that 57% of the region’s apartments cost $1,000 or more per month, compared with 43% of units for previous years.
Around 50% of renters in the Lehigh Valley are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30% of their total income on housing costs. The Morning Call explored the region’s housing crisis in a reported series earlier this year.
The emergency rental assistance program, which was established first by the Consolidated Appropriations Act in 2020 and then re-authorized by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, distributed over $46 billion to bolster housing stability through the pandemic, during a time when millions lost jobs due to COVID-related shut downs and other restrictions.
The federal government made those billions available to state and local governments and nonprofits, which then distributed them directly to renters and landlords.
By many accounts, the program worked. More than 184,000 Pennsylvania renters received some form of assistance, according to Pennsylvania Department of Health data.
“The frustrating thing is when you see something that works and it goes away, we end up in the same place as before, except worse, because we are in a worse financial crisis now than before the pandemic,” said Marc Rittle, executive director of social services agency New Bethany Ministries.
Rittle, whose organization helped distribute rental assistance dollars in the Bethlehem area, said the end of that program will “likely lead to an increase in evictions” in Northampton County because less emergency dollars are available to households who cannot make their rent payments.
Public data seems to indicate that evictions rose in Lehigh County after pandemic rental assistance ended there.
According to data from the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts, average eviction filings in Lehigh County were around 6,300 a year, and Northampton County were around 2,900 a year before the pandemic.
Evictions roughly halved in 2020 in both counties, while there was both a statewide and national eviction moratorium that prevented some evictions from taking place.
Those moratoriums ended in 2021, and the numbers began to diverge in 2022, when Lehigh County ended its ERAP program while Northampton’s remained in place.
In 2022, Lehigh County saw 6,849 eviction filings —up 8% from the historical average — while Northampton saw 2,727, 5% less than the historical average.
“I do think it is fair to say that some of the lower filing numbers, that Northampton County remained lower than their historical average, was because they still had rental assistance and they had it for longer,” said Lori Malloy, executive director of North Penn Legal Services, which provides legal aid to low-income residents facing eviction.
Data from the Government Accountability Office found the rental assistance money, coupled with the eviction moratoriums, likely helped prevent many evictions throughout the pandemic.
Since 2020, Northampton County processed over 10,000 applications and distributed a total of around $27 million to landlords and tenants who needed assistance making rent on time, and Lehigh County distributed roughly $40 million to applicants.
But the U.S. government is now winding down those federal assistance programs. The U.S. declared the end of the COVID-19 public health emergency, which had been in effect since March 2020, last month.
What help is still out there?
Even though the direct stream of funding has dried up, help is still out there for those who need it.
“This is something we have been prepared for, but I don’t want the wrong message to get out the public that there’s no organization that can help people because that is not true,” Rittle said.
New Bethany still has some rental assistance available for applicants, but now that the ERAP funding has run dry, the organization will largely shift its focus to case management instead of doling out direct financial assistance. That means New Bethany will do more individual counseling, helping people find stable jobs, housing and other resources, instead of giving out direct payments.
“What we are going to see is a very healthy way of doing social services,” Rittle said. “We will give our full attention, not just make you a piece of paper, then pay out rental assistance if you qualify. Now we will have more time to focus on you and your family to get you help that you need.”
Lehigh County closed applications for rental assistance in late August last year. Officials with Community Action Lehigh Valley, a nonprofit tasked with distributing funds on behalf of Lehigh County, said at the time the $5 million still available would likely not be enough to cover the 1,500 applications pending at the time.
But according to Deputy Executive Director for Operations Jessica Reimert, Community Action ended up still having around $1.2 million left over after processing all the 1,500 requests, which is why the group re-opened applications this month.
However, they expect demand to be high: Reimert said the funds will not last long, and once that $1.2 million has been doled out, no more emergency rental assistance will be available to residents.
Even after the ERAP funds run out, Community Action will continue with services like housing and home ownership counseling, as well as advocating for and building affordable housing throughout the Lehigh Valley.
Reporter Lindsay Weber can be reached at Liweber@mcall.com.
