Housing Advocate Breaks Down Rental Support Pathways, Explains Why He's Endorsing Andrea Campbell For Boston Mayor

Now that the Supreme Court has officially struck down President Joe Biden’s extension to the federal eviction moratorium, hundreds of thousands of Americans are at risk of losing their housing — including many in New England.

Luckily, there are resources, including $47 billion in pandemic-related federal aid specifically for renters. But the current systems for getting that money into the hands of those in need are “a mess,” according to Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America CEO and Founder Bruce Marks.

On Monday, Marks joined GBH’s Boston Public Radio to talk about the financial backlog within the Emergency Rental Assistance program, how his organization is helping tens of thousands of renters in need and why they’ve chosen to endorse Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell in her campaign for city mayor.

Marks told hosts Jim Braude and Sue O’Connell that the issue lies mostly in the convoluted system for distribution. “It’s crazy,” he said. “There's $47 billion of emergency rental assistance that’s out there… and so little of it has gotten out, because no tenant and no landlord could figure that piece out.”

The latest data out of the U.S. Treasury indicates only 11% of the $47 billion has so far made it to tenants and landlords, as of July 31. Data for the month of August is expected to come out in the next few days.

“There are five staff people at [the] Treasury” working on distribution, Marks explained. “We said to them, 'you’ve got to get your stuff together.' Their excuse was, ‘well, it’s a state-oriented thing.’”

“Well,” he continued, “the states don’t know how to do this because they’ve never done it before. So why don’t you set a standard, why don’t you provide a program where states could use it? And they haven’t done it.”

In the meantime, Marks says his organization is deploying a team of economic justice advocates to decipher the various means of distribution, to service NACA’s nearly three million members. So far, he said over 10,000 applicants have reached out for help.

If someone is looking for guidance, either as a renter or as a landlord, Marks said those who need help should visit NACA.com, where a form is available under the “renters” tab at the top of the homepage.

“Then, we will contact you, [or] we will contact the tenant," he said. "And we will work to get them through the process, because our staff are experts in whatever state they’re calling from, to get them the assistance.”

During the twenty-minute conversation, Marks also discussed a recent forum that NACA held for four of the five major candidates vying for mayor of Boston.

His group decided that it was Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell who made the best impression.

“We think, obviously she has a compelling background and history,” he said. “But she’s very forceful, she’s very outspoken... she has the natural leadership skills that we think are important.”

Meanwhile, Marks called acting Mayor Janey's absence from the forum ironic, and noted that Janey currently lives in a house bought with NACA assistance some 20 years ago.