New Orleans Emergency Rental Assistance Program Ends

Sign Petition for Permanent Rental Assistance

We are deeply concerned about the recent suspension of the Emergency Rental Assistance Program in the City of New Orleans. The Emergency Rental Assistance Program has provided rental assistance to 28,000 households facing eviction in New Orleans since 2020.

63% of New Orleans renters are cost-burdened. Many people find themselves unable to pay rent for a wide variety of reasons, including: unexpected medical issues, sudden unemployment, lack of affordable childcare, and widespread unreliable low wage jobs and seasonal work in the hospitality industry. It is not simply a matter of working harder and budgeting appropriately. In this harsh reality, even a brief period without work can result in a family’s eviction.

To prevent  exacerbating what is already a housing crisis, we demand the creation of a fully-funded and permanent rental assistance program. Relying on nonprofits, faith-based organizations, and mutual aid networks to pick up this burden is not a sustainable solution. It is more cost-effective for the city to keep people housed than it is for the city to expend resources trying to rehouse and restabilize a household that has been uprooted from their home. We are demanding a proactive, housing-first program which meets the needs of

rent-burdened residents without waiting until they are on the street to address their situation.

The reality is: New Orleans needs 47,000 affordable units in addition to what already exists in order to meet the need for housing. In the meantime, taking away this preventative resource which has prevented the homelessness of thousands of households is an attempt to skirt the City’s responsibility to keep its residents housed.