As thousands face evictions, Democratic lawmakers urge governor to hasten rental assistance

After months of sluggish distribution of emergency rental assistance by Indiana's state government that housing experts have called a "failure" and a "crisis," Democratic lawmakers wrote a letter to Gov. Holcomb urging him to hasten the distribution of much-needed rental aid to Hoosiers.

Indianapolis saw over 1,000 eviction filings during each of the past two weeks, according to Eviction Lab data. An estimated 65,000 Indiana households with 69,000 children are behind on rent.

State Reps. Mike Andrade, D-Munster, and Renee Pack, D-Indianapolis, asked Holcomb in the letter Wednesday to lead "the creation of a more effective and efficient rental assistance program to get funding into the hands of Hoosiers who need it."

Citing an IndyStar article about how the state and local governments have yet to distribute millions in rental assistance, Andrade and Pack told Holcomb to use all available resources to stave off evictions. 

"One of the worst catastrophes you can have is a massive rush in homelessness. ... If you want to talk about disaster, talk about folks being put out of their home, sleeping in their cars," Pack told IndyStar. She said she experienced homelessness in the 1990s. "I don’t want to see others go through the same thing.

"We’re talking about an issue that is non-partisan: Home security and residential security is one of the most basic foundations in a community. When you disturb that, you disturb every other aspect of our constituents' lives, from schools, to access to bathing and showering."

When asked about what they plan to do to expedite the distribution of rental aid, House Speaker Todd Huston and Senate President Pro Tempore Rod Bray, both Republicans, declined to comment and deferred to the governor's office. 

The governor's office declined to comment and directed IndyStar's questions to the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.

Spokesperson Lauren Houck said the housing authority opened an application portal last Friday to expedite the processing of emergency rental assistance.

Houck said the portal was a "back-end" update to the existing IndianaHousingNow.org portal and "provides a streamlined and automated process to benefit renters and landlords."

For the first time, landlords can now start the application on their tenants' behalf — all they need is the renter's email address. Landlords will now have a dashboard where they can view their tenants application status in real time.

Tenants also can now also track their applications in real time.

Houck added that the housing authority's executive director, Jacob Sipe, is a member of the Indiana Eviction Task Force, which has been tasked with implementing a statewide eviction diversion program and which will submit an interim report this month.

How to apply

Tenants in need of rental assistance as well as landlords whose tenants are behind on rent may apply for help at IndianaHousingNow.org or call 2-1-1. Only those living outside Marion County,  Hamilton County, Lake County, St. Joseph County and Fort Wayne should apply there as those five local governments run their own rental assistance programs. 

The state rental assistance program has assisted 21,173 households so far as of Sept. 30 said the housing authority spokesperson Houck, pointing also to the $120.3 million that the state has given to local programs in Marion, Lake, St. Joseph counties and Fort Wayne.

"These municipalities have a higher concentration of low-income renters and a higher volume of eviction filings," said Houck. "Nine of the top 10 ZIP codes with the state’s highest volume of eviction cases are in Marion County."

Because of an additional $91 million that the state housing authority directed to Marion County in August, as of Oct. 1, Marion County renters can seek an additional 12 months of help with rent payments at IndyRent.org on top of the original 3 months rent aid that the program offered. 

Indianapolis' rent assistance program has assisted 26,505 Marion County households from the program’s inception in July 2020 until Sept. 15.

$538M in unallocated assistance in Indiana

As of Sept. 30, Indiana state and local governments still had $538 million of unallocated rental assistance, while residents across the state are hauled into courts for eviction proceedings that were halted during the CDC eviction moratorium, which ended on Aug. 26.

The state fell short of a federal deadline that required states to allocated at least 65% of federally-given emergency rental assistance funds by Sept. 30 or risk losing it to the federal government. Indiana's state rental assistance program had only paid and obligated about 57% , or $192.9 million, of its first round of federal emergency rental assistance funding as of Sept. 30. 

Indiana could lose at much as $141 million, simply because the state government did not distribute it quickly enough.

The U.S. Treasury Department has yet to announce specific details how it plans to recapture the unused funds but said in a Sept. 24 letter that it plans to do so over several months, starting after Oct. 15 and continuing into spring 2022. They also said they intend to keep funds within the same state to the greatest extent possible.

More:'Do it for the baby': Indianapolis renters plead to stave off evictions as moratorium ends

Pack and Andrade: The money is there. Use it. 

Housing advocates said that Indiana may have inadequate infrastructure and staffing needed to effectively distribute rental assistance to thousands of households who need it. Pack and Andrade point to Indianapolis as a model for the state.

"Indianapolis was able to use pre-existing connections with local government and non-profit workers to promote the IndyRent program and handle applications," they wrote in the letter. "The city has assisted renters at a faster rate than the state and provides an excellent model for Indiana to follow for its aid distribution.

"Similar to the Indianapolis approach, the Hoosier Housing Needs Coalition provides a step-by-step guide for the creation of an 'All Government Approach' which includes working with all levels of government to notify the public of the available funding and how to distribute funds to the areas that need it the most."

One thing is clear: distributing the rental assistance funds as expediently as possible is a "win-win situation" for everyone involved, said Andrade.

"Tenants are able to pay their bills, which is rent, and landlords, if they have a mortgage payment, (are able to pay) the mortgage for the building, or if they don’t have a mortgage, the overhead, upkeep and maintenance of the building," Andrade said. "It also helps our communities because if the families are able to stay there, the kids can go to schools, they can invest in the community

"If landlords can keep apartment units rented out, you don’t have vandalism, you don’t have people breaking in because the building is sitting empty and is boarded up. It improves everyone’s quality of life."

Contact IndyStar reporter Ko Lyn Cheang at kcheang@indystar.com or 317-903-7071. Follow her on Twitter: @kolyn_cheang.