The new COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance program is set to open in the coming weeks. You can sign up for email updates from Minnesota Housing here.
Last July, Governor Walz announced plans to allocate $100 million from the state’s COVID-19 Relief Fund to create the COVID-19 Housing Assistance Program (CHAP) in an effort to “help prevent evictions, prevent homelessness, and maintain housing stability for eligible renters and homeowners”. CHAP was launched in August and stopped formally accepting applications on December 7th, 2020. Toward the end of this window, Housing Justice Center was able to assist renters and homeowners statewide as they navigated the CHAP application process. Throughout that experience, we observed moments of success in addition to preventable problems that ultimately affected the most vulnerable eligible Minnesotans. The individual application assistance was led by Shana Tomenes, Housing Justice Center’s Equal Justice Works Fellow sponsored by Target Corporation, and supported by pro-bono volunteers, also from Target Corporation.
The speed with which Minnesota Housing created a mechanism to deploy a large amount of assistance, under extraordinary circumstances no less, is no small feat. The overarching problem we observed was that the program was inaccessible to many Minnesotans—in fact, the news coverage five days prior to the December 7th deadline was the first time many had heard of the program. Barriers to successful applications included design flaws in the application process; technical barriers including inadequate internet to support the site; weeks-long wait times for technical support; and inconsistent practices by local administrators. A more extensive look at our reflections on CHAP can be found here, in a letter addressed to Minnesota Housing Commissioner Jennifer Ho and Assistant Commissioners Ryan Baumtrog and James Lehnhoff.
As we look to the future, HJC and our Equity in Place (EIP) partners have addressed several issues with the CHAP application process and presented improvements to be implemented in the distribution of future federal stimulus funding. Solutions range from additional technical support; to a method for Minnesotans to apply via telephone; to more resources for community organizations supporting applicants through this process. EIP is a diverse group of strategic partners from organizations led by people of color and housing advocacy organizations in the Twin Cities working to analyze and combat racial inequities in housing. When Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and the ensuing economic and housing crises, emergency housing assistance is undeniably a matter of racial justice. Read more of the coalition’s findings here.
The new COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance program is set to open in the coming weeks. You can sign up for email updates from Minnesota Housing here.