Funds for a federal rental assistance program — intended to keep the most vulnerable people housed during the COVID-19 pandemic — are drying up faster than expected, potentially leading to thousands more Californians living on the streets as soon as next year .
As CalMatters’ Ben Christopher explains, the Emergency Housing Voucher program began in 2021, helping 60,000 people across the U.S. pay their rent. Enrollees included people on the verge of homelessness, fleeing domestic violence or escaping human trafficking. About 15,000 Californians are in the emergency program.
The program was meant to be temporary: Congress funded it with a lump sum of $5 billion and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development had until 2030 to spend all the money…