Emergency Rental Assistance: Evaluating the Targeting of Eviction Prevention Services

Promoting housing stability for the millions of households facing eviction annually is a critical policy objective, and a key question is how to target limited emergency assistance funds. This project evaluates an eviction prevention program in Pierce County, Washington, for tenants at imminent risk of eviction. The intervention provides up to 3 months of rental arrears, and four months of current and future rent. A second treatment arm adds proactive case management on top of assistance. We are collaborating with Pierce County Human Services (PCHS), which has made its $8.4 million budget for eviction prevention services available for this evaluation. We anticipate a sample size of 3600 tenants, with 510 assigned to rental assistance only and 510 assigned to rental assistance and case management. The primary goal of this research is to assess whether emergency assistance reduces the likelihood that tenants have an eviction judgment or enter a homeless shelter. A secondary goal is to learn, using both an intake survey and linked administrative data, whether households can be targeted ex ante as being more likely to benefit from emergency funds. We will study alternative approaches to targeting using data from the RCT.