As Treasury ERA Funds Are Depleted in Oregon, Some of the $3.4+ Billion Allocated to Oregon for State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds May Still be Available.

With the State of Oregon and local government grantees spending $37 million in November for ERA direct rental assistance PLUS an unknown amount for other support services, the Treasury funded ERA programs in Oregon may run out of funding this winter.  

On Thursday January 6th the US Treasury released it's final rule for the Coronavirus State Fiscal Recovery Program and the Coronavirus Local Fiscal Recovery Program [SLFRF]. 

Oregon state, county, and local governments have received a total of $3.4 billion in funding from this program, according to data in the zip file available for download HERE from USASPENDING.gov.

[Note: the Oregon League of Cities indicates an even larger $4.2 billion allocation for Oregon and that is close to the allocation total shown on Treasury Recovery website, It's not clear what the differences are between that number and the Oregon USASPENDING.gov number of $3.7 billion (which includes allocations to Tribal governments). It's possible that some of Oregon SLFRF funding has not yet been obligated and therefore does not appear in the USASpending.gov data].

Rental Assistance is An Eligible Use of SLFRF Funding.

In the Eligible Uses discussion in the Treasury final rule in Section 10. Promoting long-term housing security: affordable housing and homelessness (on pages 102-110) Treasury outlines eligible housing related uses that include rental assistance. 

By January 31st, the state of Oregon and some local government agencies are required to file project and expenditure reports with Treasury on their Fiscal Recovery Program spending through December 2021. I count 28 Oregon cities, counties and the State of Oregon required to report by this date. 

Non entitlement cities are not required to report until April 30, 2022. I count 25 of these Oregon cities required to report by this date.  

It is possible/likely that some of the $3.7 (or $4.2) Billion in Oregon SLFRF funding remains unobligated and COULD be spent on rental assistance, either by the state or local governments. (At the end of the June 2021 legislative session, the summary HERE indicated there was a $488 million remaining balance in just the STATE Fiscal Recovery Program). 

Reports and Legislative Sessions Provide Opportunity to Review SLFRF Funding Status and Priorities.

These reports and the upcoming legislative days and session provide an opportunity to determine what SLFRF funds have been spent for so far, how much remains, and or how much could be re programmed by the state or local governments for additional rental assistance. 

Originally created and posted on the Oregon Housing Blog.