How to Use ARPA Funds to Improve Local Eviction Data

To date, metropolitan cities and counties have obligated 65 percent of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. This means local leaders have until December 2024 to dedicate the remaining $20 billion before it has to be returned to the U.S. Treasury.

On February 14th, New America’s Future of Land and Housing program and the National League of Cities held a webinar offering guidance to state and local governments on using ARPA dollars to advance eviction data collection and analysis. Gathering and analyzing eviction data can help jurisdictions craft better policies and more effectively target resources to those most in need. Additionally, having this data available can be useful in building political will, unlocking previously deadlocked conversations, and putting new solutions on the table when it comes to eviction prevention.

This blog post elevates key takeaways and useful resources for cities, counties and states wanting to improve data infrastructures to prevent housing loss.

There are two federal funding opportunities for which eviction data efforts are an allowable expense under Treasury guidelines – ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds (SLFRF) and Community Development Block Grant funding (see slides from Karen Lash, Senior Fellow at the Georgetown Justice Lab, here). This blog post will focus on ARPA funds, which are more time-sensitive and flexible than CDBG.

The Treasury’s 2022 Overview of the Final Rule for ARPA notes that “SLFRF funding may be used to improve the efficacy of public health and economic programs through tools like program evaluation, data, and outreach…Eligible uses include supporting program evaluation, data, and outreach through:

• Program evaluation and evidence resources;
• Data analysis resources to gather, assess, share, and use data;
• Technology infrastructure to improve access to and the user experience of government IT systems, as well as technology improvements to increase public access and delivery of government programs and services;
• Community outreach and engagement activities; and
• Capacity building resources to support using data and evidence, including hiring staff, consultants, or technical assistance support.”

The Treasury has also clarified that eligible services related to eviction prevention include “housing stability services that enable eligible households to maintain or obtain housing, such as:

• housing counseling;
• fair housing counseling;
• case management related to housing stability;
• outreach to households at risk of eviction or promotion of housing support programs;
• housing related services for survivors of domestic abuse or human trafficking, and
• specialized services for individuals with disabilities or seniors that support their ability to access or maintain housing,"

as well as “legal aid such as legal services or attorney’s fees related to eviction proceedings and maintaining housing stability, court-based eviction prevention or eviction diversion programs, and other legal services that help households maintain or obtain housing” (SLFRF Final Rule).

While ARPA funds must be obligated by the end of 2024, cities and counties have until the end of 2026 to spend them. The Treasury has encouraged jurisdictions to focus on longer-term priorities as the end of the funding window nears, such as frontloading one-time expenditures to stand up programs or build out infrastructures.

Mary Horner, Housing Justice Senior Staff Attorney at Legal Services of Northern Virginia (LSNV), and Katherine Key, Performance Analyst for the City of Alexandria, shared how their city leadership used ARPA funds to improve local capacity for eviction data analysis. After months of time-intensive eviction data collection by LSNV at the beginning of the pandemic, the City of Alexandria used ARPA funding to hire full-time data analyst Katherine Key within the Department of Community and Human Services to create and maintain an eviction dashboard.

Investing in the human resources necessary for this work has allowed the city to sustain data collection and analysis so that local partners can better identify eviction trends, target resources to tenants most at risk of eviction, secure better and longer-term data access through data sharing agreements, and evaluate the effectiveness of current interventions, including record expungement.

Panelists shared the following strategies for allocating funding towards eviction data efforts locally.

Generating buy-in for allocating funds for eviction data efforts:

• Identify your audience for making the case that an eviction database is an allowable and worthwhile use of ARPA funds (this may include mayors, city council members, and/or equivalent county leadership).
• Link proposed eviction data interventions to your city’s housing plan, or to ongoing efforts to help your community recover from the pandemic and its effects of our housing crisis in order to effectively make the case.
• Note that an evictions database could inform future decision-making, or even attract future grant funding.
• Educate your audience on the impacts of analyzing eviction data and avoid assumptions that people already understand its importance.

Bringing partners to the table to negotiate data-sharing:

• Learn who in your community possesses information about evictions. This likely includes a variety of parties including courts, landlords, law enforcement, legal aid groups, and community based organizations.
• Try to understand why a stakeholder may be reluctant to share data, and work with them to address their concerns: “make offers, not asks.”
• Identify common goals all parties share, as well as the reasoning behind requests for data. Provide a clear and feasible timeline along with all data requests.
• Look to nearby or peer localities for local examples of successful data sharing within your own state context, which may encourage your stakeholders to feel more comfortable with data sharing.

Federal ARPA funding represents a major opportunity for cities, counties, and states to invest in critical data infrastructure that can bolster the resilience and stability of their communities.

To learn more about New America's efforts to improve eviction data, see our collections page here.

If you are interested in learning more about using a recently-developed data tool--the Foreclosure and Eviction Analysis Tool (FEAT)-- or are interested in joining a cohort of localities—the Network for Eviction Transparency—looking to leverage ARPA funds as described in this webinar, access and analyze local eviction data, and use resulting insights to keep more people housed, please reach out at zainulbhai@newamerica.org.