Department of Housing and Community Development Information Session on Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) for Utility Providers
Join the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and learn, provide feedback, and get answers to your questions about how utility providers will interface with the State’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to help low-income households with unpaid past and current utility dues resulting from COVID-19.
Who should attend: Utility providers interested in learning how to interface with the State’s ERAP application process When: March 11, 2021 from 1:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m.Questions? Please email ERAP@hcd.ca.gov.*This webinar is limited to 500 attendees. The webinar will be recorded and made available on HCD’s website.
Background: On December 27, 2020, the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021, a $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill was signed into law and $25 billion was allocated to the United States Treasury for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) to assist households that are unable to pay rent or utilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic. California will receive $2.6 billion of the federal ERAP funds. To implement these rental assistance resources, the state of California worked with the State Legislature to develop a programmatic framework that focused the funding to rental arrearages. On January 28, the State Senate and State Assembly passed the COVID-19 Tenant Relief Act (SB 91), extending eviction protections through June 30, 2021 and creating a mechanism to deploy $2.6B in ERAP resources to assist struggling tenants and landlords impacted by COVID-19. ERAP provisions include household utility debt as an eligible expense for these funds. This information session will inform utility providers about how utility providers will interface with California's framework for these funds.