WASHINGTON—Tenants who are behind on their rent are still waiting for $25 billion in assistance that Congress appropriated in December, as millions of households and landlords fall deeper into debt.
Many states are still determining how to distribute money they have received from the Treasury Department to help an estimated 13 million renters. Meanwhile, Congress is poised to appropriate another $20 billion in rental assistance.
California has a March 15 deadline for setting up an application system. In New York, the funds are caught up in the state’s budget process, which could stretch into April. Michigan’s legislature plans to approve its portion of the money only in installments.
The delays reflect in part the complexities of starting a new system from scratch and the difficulty of getting the money out quickly while also preventing fraud.
“Right now it’s just sitting there in most states,” said David Dworkin, president and chief executive officer of the National Housing Conference, a nonprofit group that advocates for affordable housing. “The reality is that these things do take time and you want to do them well and not make mistakes because you went too fast.”
