Keeping Our Families in Their Homes

September 2021

Keeping Our Families in Their Homes

Baltimore City is providing a range of supports to residents impacted by COVID-19, and among its larger relief efforts to date is the Baltimore City Eviction Prevention Program.

Each day across Baltimore’s five Baltimore City Community Action Partnership (CAP) centers, 50+ staff process applications for emergency rental assistance. The goal: to assist eligible tenants with getting current on their rent, avoiding eviction and staying in their homes. The current estimate of Baltimore City tenants who are behind on rent: 28,000.

Baltimore entered this work from a place of disproportionate demand and, because of that, got an early start and has taken a multi-faceted approach. It has been an awesome undertaking, one we in the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success could not lead without our many partners.

The program’s status as we enter the final quarter of Year One: Baltimore City is averting evictions and preventing homelessness for thousands of households—with thousands more to go.

The Eviction Prevention Program is administered by the Baltimore City Community Action Partnership in the Mayor’s Office of Children & Family Success. Funding and launching the program was a multi-agency effort, with key support from the Department of Housing & Community Development and the Mayor’s Office of Homeless Services.

Disproportionate Demand

A history of structural racism and concentrated poverty made housing instability a reality in Baltimore City long before COVID-19. In March 2020, 1 in 10 Baltimore tenants was behind on rent. Within a month of the onset of the pandemic, that rate doubled to 1 in 5. By June 2020 it was 1 in 3.

Swift Response

Baltimore City had to act quickly and couldn’t wait for federal rental assistance funds to arrive. It launched a short-term pilot program in July 2020 to cover tenants’ back rent for April-June; started building a long-term rental assistance program; and amassed local funds across city agencies to get the program started. In December 2020, the city launched its Eviction Prevention Program, using its least-restrictive funds first to quickly reach the most people possible.

Preventing Homelessness…

…and Promoting Housing Stability

Demand for rental assistance was deep-rooted and response to the Eviction Prevention Program was immediate—and we knew it would grow once the eviction moratorium lifted and long-term financial impact of COVID-19 set in. Out of the gate we knew we had to work to prevent homelessness for thousands of households in the immediate term, and support a long-term path to housing stability for those same households over time.

Back-Rent Assistance

The most immediate way the Baltimore City Eviction Prevention Program works to prevent evictions is by making payments to landlords on behalf of tenants who are behind on their rent—up to, but no more than, 12 months’ worth.

Our Reach to Date

From December 2020 to September 17, 2021, Baltimore City issued $23.2 million in back-rent payments to landlords on behalf of tenants, bringing 4,653 households current on rent and preventing 1,068 evictions

Pandemic Rent Court Program

To expand the reach of the Eviction Prevention Program and leverage it to reverse eviction proceedings already moving through the court, BCCAP partnered with the District Court of Maryland, the Baltimore City Sheriff’s Office and Public Justice Center attorneys to launch the Pandemic Rent Court Program. Launched September 13, the program is supported by BCCAP staff who work with judges, landlords and tenants to access the Eviction Prevention Program onsite in rent court in order to avoid litigation and eviction. Learn more.

Relocation & Security Deposit Assistance

Back-rent assistance may prevent an eviction and avert an immediate crisis. But it isn’t always a path to safe and stable housing. In some cases, tenants need to relocate—because of disagreements with and/or legal actions by their landlords, for example, or properties that aren’t up to code. To support tenant relocation, the Eviction Prevention Program provides case management services and, starting soon, security deposit payments, up to $2,000 per household. This, coupled with up to three months of forward rent, will support tenants’ move to better, more stable living situations. For more information on Security Deposit Assistance, stay tuned to www.bmorechildren.com/residents/#rent or follow @bmorechildren.

Additional Resources

The Eviction Prevention Program also connects tenants to free utilities assistance and legal services to assist in them averting their current crisis and staying in their homes.

A more detailed overview of Baltimore City’s Eviction Prevention Program here.

October is Youth Justice Action Month!

In Baltimore, youth justice is when all of our youth have access to the opportunities they need to thrive. In too many cases in Baltimore City, our history of structural racism and concentrated poverty prevents that access and contributes instead to a disproportionate number of arrests among youth of color.

During Youth Justice Action Month, we focus in on the state of youth justice in Baltimore, and work to inspire action on behalf of young people impacted by our criminal justice system.

We hope you’ll join us: @gothedistancebmore

Keeping Our Families in Their Homes