DCA to Receive Over $31 Million in Additional Federal Emergency Rental Assistance Due to Successful Distribution of Rental Aid

• Posted on: 04/18/2023

Marks the Latest Additional Award to DCA for a Total of Over $245 Million in Reallocations to Help More Renter Households in Need

TRENTON, NJ – The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) today announced that it will receive an additional $31.45 million in federal Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) funds for New Jersey renter households in financial hardship and facing urgent need. Due to the demonstrated need for emergency rental assistance in New Jersey and DCA’s success in distributing the rental assistance, the additional funds will be reallocated to DCA by U.S. Treasury from other states and localities in the nation that didn’t use them.

With the $31.45 million in additional funds, DCA will be able to assist another 2,500 to 3,000 households that are currently on the waiting list for the COVID-19 Emergency Rental Assistance Program (CVERAP).

This is the seventh ERA funding reallocation awarded to DCA since January 2022. The Department received $42.7 million in January 2022, $44.64 million in March 2022, $41.57 million in September 2022, $20.59 million in October 2022, and $30.47 million in December 2022. DCA was also awarded $33.65 million this January for a total to date of $245.07 million in additional ERA funds.

Additionally, the federal government facilitated a voluntary reallocation last year of $5.9 million in ERA funding from Burlington County to DCA to be used by the Department for emergency rental assistance for residents of Burlington County.

“While the worst of the pandemic is over, its effects continue to reverberate in the lives of many New Jersey families, impacting their ability to pay past due rent and current rent. So, we appreciate the federal government providing additional emergency rental assistance funding to our state because we will certainly use it to help more households,” said Lt. Governor Sheila Oliver, who serves as DCA Commissioner. “Emergency rental assistance has been a gamechanger in keeping families in their homes. For this, we thank our federal partners. We appreciate their approach to reallocate funds to where they are needed the most.”

DCA received an original allocation of $626 million in ERA funds from the federal government. The Department has completely disbursed the original allocation, as well as the ERA reallocations received in January, March, September, and October of 2022.

With ERA funding, DCA has been able to help more than 75,750 households across New Jersey through the CVERAP2 program, which began in January 2021 and provides rental assistance to households for past due and future rents. More than 15,000 households benefitted from the first phase of the CVERAP program that was launched in July 2020 in response to the pandemic.

In addition to the Emergency Rental Assistance program (CVERAP), DCA administers the $500 million Eviction Prevention Program (EPP), which was signed by Governor Murphy into law in August of 2021. Through the EPP program, DCA is providing rental assistance on a monthly basis for up to two years to approximately 31,800 households, many of which also received CVERAP assistance.

While applications for the CVERAP and EPP programs are closed, the State still has critical eviction prevention tools in place for renters who experienced economic hardships during the pandemic. The Eviction Diversion Initiative, established through P.L.2021, c.313 signed by the Governor into law in December 2021 and also known as the Rental Assistance Navigation Program, has dispatched resource navigators to every court vicinage in the state to work with tenants and landlords to prevent evictions. Resource navigators are experienced case workers who serve as a resource in tenant-landlord court in every county by assisting tenants with understanding the court process; helping them apply for available rental assistance and utility assistance; providing social services support, housing mediation or counseling; guiding them on how to access legal services; and helping with emergencies, including paying for short-term rent arrears and relocation expenses.

Also, DCA last year accepted 4,000 households to the wait list for the State Rental Assistance Program, which is a decades-long, state-funded program that provides housing vouchers on behalf of very low-income New Jersey residents for decent, safe, and sanitary housing. Furthermore, earlier this year, DCA accepted 20,000 households to the wait list for the statewide Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) Program, which is a federally-funded program administered by DCA that provides housing subsidies to New Jersey residents so they can obtain quality housing.

DCA offers a wide range of programs and services, including local government management and finance, affordable housing production, fire safety, building safety, community planning and development, disaster recovery and mitigation, historic preservation, and information privacy.

 For more information about DCA, visit https://nj.gov/dca/ or follow the Department on social media: