COVID-19 state emergency rental assistance program dataset

This dataset documents implementation of the federal Emergency Rental Assistance program (ERA) in the U.S. states. ERA was a transfer, initiated in 2021, of over $46 billion in federal funds to states and other levels of government to stabilize housing for vulnerable renter households at risk of housing instability or experiencing economic hardship as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments implementing ERA programs were given discretion over program rules and processes within federal guidelines. Variation in eligibility rules and procedures, benefits, and other aspects of these programs could be associated with differences in program take-up or beneficiary outcomes. We used a policy mapping process to gather information on ERA programs in 49 of the 50 U.S. states and the District of Columbia and encoded program variation in a dataset of 75 variables documenting program differences in start and end dates, eligibility policies such as income and hardship verification procedures, and benefit policies such as allowable expenses beyond rent and rental arrearage (e.g., coverage of utilities) and whether payments went only to the landlord or could be directed to the tenant. These data can be used for describing variation in ERA programs and studying the effects of policy differences, important tasks for understanding the social and economic policy response to the pandemic. Lessons drawn from ERA could inform the design of and research on other social welfare programs and policies.