Funding critical services benefits everyone
Many people in Connecticut are a few missed shifts, an illness, or an accident away from not being able to pay rent. And if a landlord isn’t understanding of the circumstances, a missed rent payment can lead to a family being kicked out of their home, and an eviction on their record that makes it harder to find another place to stay.
Emergency rental assistance and housing vouchers help bridge the gap between what a person can pay and the rising cost of rent. They can keep people in their communities, children in their schools, and our neighborhoods together. They also save the government money in the long run.
Unfortunately, the Trump administration has placed rental assistance on the chopping block. Already, the federal government has canceled more than $260 million in housing aid across the nation. Additionally, Trump has signaled that he wants to cut 40% of the funding from Section 8 vouchers and lay off half of the federal employees who administer them.
About 161,000 people in Connecticut use federal rental assistance, and these cuts could mean people lose their homes. Those cuts will also place more pressure on our state budget to fill the gap. Connecticut’s state-funded Rental Assistance Program (RAP) is already severely underfunded. About 6,500 people currently receive RAP, but the waitlist hasn’t accepted new applications since 2014. Even then, it was only open for a single week.
Expanding state funding for rental assistance programs keeps our communities together and saves the state money.
Funding housing aid is a smart investment
A “return on investment,” also known as “ROI,” is a way to measure how much money the government saves by funding services.
Studies have repeatedly shown that investing in housing aid is not only the right thing to do, but it’s a smart use of government money. In Connecticut, every dollar saves the government and society $5.
Nationally, one study found that, generally, every dollar spent on pandemic-era rental assistance saved the government $4 because it didn’t have to pay for emergency housing.Rent subsidies are also cheaper than providing emergency housing after someone loses their home. Housing someone in an emergency shelter costs $8,000 a year more than a federal rent subsidy.
Keeping families in their homes is not only the right thing to do, it’s a smart investment.
The social benefit
When someone loses their home because they can’t afford rent anymore, it costs society. This is sometimes referred to as the “social cost.” Nationally, a $56 billion investment in rental assistance would save the government $117 billion and society $200 billion.
When people lose their homes, their children can fall behind in school. People who have lost their homes also may need to use a food pantry, legal aid, government-funded healthcare, and even temporary foster care. Unfortunately, the government also punishes people for being homeless in other ways, too: by fining or incarcerating people for living outside, in their cars, or for panhandling, for instance. Helping people stay in their homes saves money and keeps our communities stable.
Rental assistance also helps landlords – many of whom are essentially small business owners. An elderly couple that rents out their basement in order to pay their property tax bill loses money if the unit is empty, which puts them at a risk of foreclosure if they’re on a tight budget. That, in turn, means greedy, out-of-state private equity firms can swoop in and buy the property, hike rent, and evict everyone else who lives there.
Rental assistance keeps our neighborhoods together and communities strong. Connecticut simply doesn’t work if working class people don’t have access to housing they can afford.
Rental assistance protects family budgets, today and tomorrow
Landlords can be hesitant to sign a lease with a tenant who has been evicted before because the tenant can be viewed as a risky gamble. Someone who has been evicted may be forced to take on debt because of it, leading to a poor credit score and debt that keeps collecting interest. The cost of living keeps going up. Stable housing provides families with the freedom to make their budget work.
Budgets can be decimated by an unexpected move. In Connecticut, landlords are allowed to ask for up to two months’ of rent as a deposit (it’s capped at one month if you are over the age of 62). Adding in the first month of rent, that’s thousands of dollars you have to have in your bank account before you sign a lease. Many people can’t afford that, especially if you don’t have money to pay your entire rent one month. That means that it can be a long time between when a person is kicked out of their home and when they can afford to find another place to live. In the meantime, they might have to stay in a hotel or an emergency shelter.
People shouldn’t lose their homes because of one bad month. A study found that landlords are often evicting tenants who owe less than $600 in rent. Emergency rental assistance can bridge the gap between what a tenant owes, preventing a bad month from becoming an eviction that continues to cost a renter years down the road.
The government must act
Funding rental assistance can’t wait. Rent is getting more and more expensive every year, and the cost of everything else is also going up. There also simply isn’t enough affordable housing to match the need. It’s a crisis that’s making it difficult for hardworking families to make ends meet.
Homelessness in the state has increased for at least three years in a row. There were more than 3,400 people without housing in January 2024. Shelters are full, and people are staying in them longer because they can’t find an affordable place to live.
Not acting costs more money than investing in housing aid. That investment needs to start now. Lawmakers must make rental assistance a priority to create a fair system where our tax dollars are being used responsibly.