National Low Income Housing Coalition

NLIHC is leading efforts to ensure the $46B in Treasury ERA approved by Congress gets to people in dire need. While over millions of households still have rental arrears, many state and local ERA programs have been very slow in getting the resources to landlords and renters, are not engaging in sufficient outreach/communications, are requiring overly burdensome documentation, and are not employing direct-to-tenant assistance. NLIHC launched in 2021 an "End Rental Arrears to Stop Evictions" (ERASE) project, to prevent evictions by tracking and analyzing ERA utilization; documenting and sharing best practices and tools; influencing program designs at federal, state, local levels; developing key partnerships for outreach and education; and more. We developed and are sharing an ERA programs look-up tool (https://bit.ly/3xzlTe7), a Dashboard (https://bit.ly/3xrbCR8) on ERA spending and use of best practices, and an ERA Resource Hub (https://bit.ly/3k5EmLo) of models programs across the U.S.

Led by NLIHC, the HoUSed campaign (https://nlihc.org/housed) strives to advance anti-racist policies and achieve the large-scale, sustained investments and reforms necessary to ensure that renters with the lowest incomes have an affordable place to call home. More than ever, bold solutions are needed to ensure people with the lowest incomes and those most marginalized have stable, affordable homes. The HoUSed campaign focuses on mobilizing tens of thousands of housing advocates, including over 1,800 organizations signing onto the campaign, to:

1. Bridge the gap between incomes and housing costs by expanding rental assistance to every eligible household.
2. Expand and preserve the supply of rental homes affordable and accessible to people with the lowest incomes.
3. Provide emergency rental assistance to households in crisis by creating a national housing stabilization fund.
4. Strengthen and enforce renter protections.

The NLIHC-led Opportunity Starts at Home (OSAH) multi-sector affordable homes campaign's long-term goal is:

Through federal housing policies that expand resources and correct long-standing structural and racial inequities, we will ensure that people with the lowest incomes can afford a good home, which adds to their quality of life through better health, greater educational attainment, and better earnings.

OSAH is advised by a Steering Committee of leading national organizations representing a wide range of sectors that are working together to solve the housing affordability crisis. What is unprecedented and transformative about OSAH is the scope and diversity of the partners joining forces to advocate for more robust and equitable federal housing policies. Each bring their own perspectives and concerns, but all share the belief that their goals are inextricably linked to whether people have access to quality affordable homes in thriving neighborhoods.

www.opportunityhome.org

The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition (DHRC) consists of more than 850 national, state, and local organizations engaged in disaster housing recovery. Major disasters (e.g. hurricanes and wildfires) are becoming increasingly more frequent and are devastating for people with the lowest incomes, who are least able to evacuate prior to the disaster and have the fewest resources to recover, leaving too many housing insecure or homeless. The DHRC educates policymakers and the public on current inequities in the disaster housing recovery system and to achieve changes to programs and policies to make them more equitable and to ensure the needs of people with the lowest incomes are met. Broadly, the DHRC’s disaster housing recovery efforts are to ensure recovery solutions provide equitable assistance to low-income and other marginalized people and communities.

https://nlihc.org/explore-issues/projects-campaigns/disaster-housing-recovery

The Annual Housing Policy Forum explores challenges and opportunities in the affordable housing community and the best strategies for achieving positive affordable housing policy solutions. The Forum and state partner convenings provide the opportunity for critical learning and capacity-building on the challenges and solutions to ending the housing crisis and homelessness in America. Participants have opportunities to engage with and learn from thought-leaders, policy experts, researchers, affordable housing practitioners, low-income residents, and leaders from Capitol Hill about the state of the affordable housing crisis in America and its solutions.