On September 14 and September 15, 2021, the House Financial Services Committee held a markup hearing in which it marked up several bills including H.R. 5196, "Expediting Assistance to Renters and Landlords Act of 2021," sponsored by Committee Chair Maxine Waters (D-CA).
NAR, as part of a coalition of housing providers (including CCIM and IREM), sent a letter to the Committee for the markup. While the coalition supports efforts to improve and speed up Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funding disbursement, it opposes the requirement in the bill that housing providers not evict a tenant for an additional 120-days after applying for rental assistance on their behalf.
The coalition has consistently provided recommendations to both Congress and the Administration for improvements to ERAP disbursement, and has also maintained that policies which attach additional "strings" for housing providers who participate in the program will have the opposite of the intended effect and lower participation rates.