The Guest Agenda: A silver lining playbook
Federal housing assistance was a bright spot during the pandemic … What did it do? And what’s next, now that it's over? … UA students protest Israel.
This is the second in a three-part series about the housing crisis in Pima County written by Lauren Kristine Taylor, a University of Arizona student and Poverty Policy Fellow. Lauren is a junior studying Public Health and Care, Health and Society and has spent the semester working to address gaps in low-income housing issues within Pima County through advocacy and policy research. You can read the first part here.
COVID-19 left a trail of disruption, destabilizing the economy, drastically reducing social interactions and heightening health concerns throughout the world.
But it also created an opportunity for new policies and support rarely seen before (remember the stimulus check many of us got in the mail?)
When COVID cases were on the rise, it became important to keep people housed. Families needed to stay inside and together. The spread of disease needed to be contained, which meant that rental assistance programs began to pop up all over the United States.
Here in Pima County, the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) helped to prevent evictions and was a conscious effort to support households in need.
Despite the daunting challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, ERAP emerged as a crucial lifeline, mitigating eviction risks, reducing food insecurity and restoring confidence among tenants in Pima County.
Before the pandemic, housing assistance programs like rent and utility assistance were in high demand, though scarcely provided in Pima's nonprofit sector.
All that changed when COVID-19 touched down. ERAP provided vital support to residents by offering financial aid for rental assistance. Eligible households could apply for assistance and receive sufficient funds to cover rent, utilities, and other essential expenses. Participants could “prequalify” for eligibility if they made 80% or less of area median income, which today would be around $51,200 for a family of four. They also had to show a threat of eviction or a previous history of eviction.
Supplementary programs, like the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, which already existed before the pandemic, became increasingly important to help support ERAP and create as many opportunities to keep people inside their homes.
But now that the program is over, what exactly did ERAP do?
From a data perspective, during its two-year duration, ERAP gave around $88.6 million in rent and utility assistance to over 17,000 families in Tucson and Pima County struggling with financial hardship.
But from a human perspective, ERAP did so much more.
“It allowed me to keep a roof over my kid's head. I'd say that's the most important thing. Especially when you're a single parent, being able to provide that stability,” said a participant in Dr. Brian Mayer’s Poverty in Tucson Field Workshop at the University of Arizona. “So that's the relief that comes with programs like this. You know that you have that roof for another month, another day, whatever it may be.”
The workshop gathered insights from nearly 700 ERAP recipients over three years of research and collected data to show just how impactful programs like this are to the community. In December, Caitlin attended and wrote about a community forum where student participants shared their findings and potential solutions.
It’s also important to note that single parents, like the one from the previous quote, constitute one of the most vulnerable demographics at risk of housing insecurity. Programs like ERAP offer relief to these households, with almost 40% of households in Pima County with children being single-parent households.
Households were given a safety net that they so desperately needed. Not only did ERAP help with lowering eviction rates, it also indirectly addressed food insecurity by stabilizing housing situations, and enabling families to focus on other essential needs such as finding employment.
Families were able to spend money on groceries instead of rent or utilities, which was especially important with the increased utility costs during the summers. Money could be allocated towards healthier food options, childcare, and so many other essentials.
COVID was also a turbulent time for many people’s careers. If someone was laid off, ERAP gave them the time to seek out a new job without feeling completely panicked. This time also allowed people to return to school or get certified in new skills to increase their job potential.
ERAP gave tenants increased confidence in their abilities to meet rental requirements and stay housed. With the threat of eviction subdued, tenants could instead focus their energy on saving or paying off debts. Families could form roots, and help foster environments to support the mental health of children.
While some may say that these “handouts” are simply costing the government too much money, these “handouts” also generated somewhere between $200-350 million in economic benefits for Pima County.
And even though ERAP ended in October, the sentiment of the program lives on. In December, the Pima County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a “Prosperity Initiative,” created to combat wealth disparities through housing infrastructure, education, cross-policy strategies, and critical family resources.
This initiative has created a space for more equitable housing policy, but now requires government officials to actively work to incorporate these concepts into the existing policies.
In November, state officials created a new program called the Arizona Rental Assistance Program (ARAP) to fill the void ERAP left. The hope is this new program will work to address the more long-term issues, where ERAP helped to treat the emergency housing crisis, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Next Tuesday, Lauren will wrap up her series with a look at the Arizona Rental Assistance Program, which experts say is far from perfect.
Israel protest at UA: University of Arizona students are protesting Israel’s actions in Gaza with an encampment on the UA Mall, the Arizona Daily Star’s Ellie Wolfe reports. About 200 students were showing their support of Palestine as they set up tents on the mall the same day representatives from Raytheon, which makes weapons used by Israel, were on campus. They are joining protests at universities across the country, including Arizona State University, where dozens of protesters were arrested last weekend.
No retrial: Prosecutors in Santa Cruz County say they will not retry George Alan Kelly, a Nogales rancher accused of fatally shooting a Mexican man, Gabriel Cuen-Buitimea, as he crossed the ranch, the Associated Press reported. A judge declared a mistrial last week after a hung jury, which Kelly’s defense team said included seven jurors who wanted to acquit and one who wanted to convict.
Rebuttal for the prosecutor: Local attorney Lou Spivack says he was “appalled” by
the scathing op-ed former Pima County Attorney Barbara LaWall wrote about current County Attorney Laura Conover, who is running for re-election this year. In a rebuttal op-ed in the Arizona Daily Star, Spivack, who worked in the county attorney’s office from 1981 to 2010, said LaWall was spreading “misinformation” and “a changing of the guard was needed in 2020 and we need to continue to move forward with Laura in 2024.”
New rules for left turns: The City of Tucson is getting rid of blinking yellow arrows for left turns at certain intersections, in favor of having drivers wait until they get a solid green light, the Star’s Charles Borla reports. The new safety tactic will be used between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. at some intersections with dual-left turn lanes. The list of the intersections is in the Facebook post from the city’s Department of Transportation and Mobility.
Different kind of trip: Two Arizona Congressmen went to the border last week. Not really big news. But the fact that one was a Democrat and the other was a Republican, and that they weren’t just going for a photo op near the border, was a little different, the Arizona Republic’s Rafael Carranza reports. Reps. Juan Ciscomani, a Republican, and Greg Stanton, a Democrat, led a bipartisan group of six members of Congress on a trip to highlight common ground on border issues beyond border security, such as economic competition with China.
Keeping track: As a safety measure, students in Vail are scanning their badges before and after leaving school buses, KGUN’s Blake Phillips reports. That information is then sent to Vail Unified School District offices, rather than via the pen and paper bus drivers were supposed to use before. Elementary and middle school students are already using the system. High school students will start this fall.
If you want to know more about the candidates running for Pima County supervisor in District 1, Curt is going to moderate the debate on Saturday between the two Democratic candidates, incumbent Rex Scott and newcomer Jake Martin. You can get tickets here.
