CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY FOURTH COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. R-20-91 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Klarissa J. Peña
RESOLUTION
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Approving Fiscal Year 2021 Appropriations To Supplement Funding For Eviction Prevention Assistance Programs During The Public Health Emergency (Peña)
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APPROVING FISCAL YEAR 2021 APPROPRIATIONS TO SUPPLEMENT FUNDING FOR EVICTION PREVENTION ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS DURING THE PUBLIC HEALTH EMERGENCY.
WHEREAS, the COVID-19 Pandemic struck amid a severe affordable housing crisis in the United States and locally in Albuquerque; and
WHEREAS, according to the latest analysis of weekly U.S. Census data, “as federal, state and local protections and resources expire and in the absence of robust and swift intervention, an estimated 30-40 million people in America could be at risk of eviction in the next several months.”; and
WHEREAS, in the early weeks of the pandemic in the U.S., researchers at the Terner Center at the University of California, the Urban Institute, the Joint Center for Housing at Harvard, the National Low Income Housing Coalition and the Furman Center at NYU separately estimated that the number of at-risk renter households employed in jobs that were most vulnerable to COVID-19-related job loss were between 27% and 34% of renter families; and
WHEREAS, according to the most recent U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey (Week 12), 18.3% of renters nationally report that they were unable to pay July’s rent on time. Forty-three percent of renter households with children and 33% of all renter households have slight or no confidence that they can pay August rent on time. Among renter households earning less than $35,000 per year, 42% have slight or no confidence in their ability to pay next month’s rent; and
WHEREAS, incomes have remained flat for many Americans over the last two decades, but median asking rents have increased by 70 percent, adjusting for inflation so there’s a shrinking gap between what families are earning and what they have to pay for basic shelter; and
WHEREAS, eviction goes on your record and can bar you from moving into Section-8 housing or negatively affect future ability to rent; and
WHEREAS, studies show that eviction is linked to job loss and negatively affects mental and physical health; and
WHEREAS, according to Children’s HealthWatch, which is a nonpartisan network of pediatricians, public health researchers, and children’s health and policy experts, “People who are threatened with eviction, even before they lose their home, are more likely to report poor health, high blood pressure, depression, anxiety, and psychological distress. Eviction often leads to residential instability, moving into poor quality housing, overcrowding, and homelessness, all of which associated with negative health among adults and children.”; and
WHEREAS, housing instability can affect a child’s feelings of security and have lasting effects on their development; and
WHEREAS, according to the Urban Institute, children and parents experiencing high levels of stress from instability may be less receptive to information to be gleaned from intervention programs. “For example, achieving school readiness among children enrolled in a prekindergarten program is difficult without first ensuring children have safe and secure housing, proper nutrition and medical care, and stable and supportive parents who can foster regular school attendance.”; and
WHEREAS, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University, Albuquerque was listed as one of the top 100 eviction areas in the country in 2016 when there were 4,541 evictions in Albuquerque, which amounts to 12.44 households evicted every day; and
WHEREAS, according to the 2018-2022 City of Albuquerque Consolidated Plan the most common household type in Albuquerque is small family households, representing 41.9 percent of all households in the city and nearly a third (30.2 percent) of small family households and approximately 38 percent of large family households earn less than 80 percent of AMI, indicating significant household economic stress regardless of family size; and
WHEREAS, according to the 2018-2022 City of Albuquerque Consolidated Plan the most common housing problem in the City is cost burden with the greatest risk of homelessness being among renters; and
WHEREAS, the Albuquerque Eviction Program, which is funded through the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), is designed to assist with both past due rent and/or utilities and which can only be applied a maximum 3-months of arrears and has been funded at $121,040 for the past two years while it served 722 household members in program year 2018 (Fiscal Year 2019); and
WHEREAS, the Department of Family and Community Services manages a special revenue account that is funded through private donations for Emergency Rental and Utility Assistance designed to assist with both past due rent and/or utilities assist with a maximum of $1,000 per household, if criteria is met. Since the start of COVID-19 epidemic the program has expended over $47,000 to eligible clients; and
WHEREAS, assistance from Eviction Prevention programs in Albuquerque may fall desperately short of the need that has been created by the COVID-19 epidemic; and
WHEREAS, the City Council approved Resolution R-20-34 on May 4, 2020, which accepted and appropriated $150,364,461 of CARES Act funding from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, and required that all indirect COVID-19 related expenditures from the funds be approved by the City Council before they are expended; and
WHEREAS, the approval to spend these funds is timely and necessary.
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL, THE GOVERNING BODY OF THE CITY
OF ALBUQUERQUE:
Section 1. That $300,000 is hereby approved as an expenditure from the
CARES Act Grant in the Operating Grants Fund (265), to be administered by the Family and Community Services Department to provide eviction prevention assistance to Albuquerque Residents for the duration of the COVID-19 related public health orders.
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