In 2024, the Tenant Resource Center provided financial assistance on behalf of 1,370 households in Dane County for a total of $10,128,291.95. Of this total, $9,958,908.41 (98%) was funded by federal Emergency Rental Assistance (“ERA”) funds, with the remaining coming from local government resources, other federal funds, or funds raised from donors by the Tenant Resource Center.
Household Demographics
Of the households receiving assistance from ERA-funded programs, the average household consists of 2.4 people with 1.1 children. The average income was 16.9% of area median income adjusted for household size, with 70.3% of all households reporting some income.
51.9% of households receiving financial assistance reside within the City of Madison, with the remaining 48.1% residing outside of the City of Madison, but within Dane County. The most common zip code for households receiving assistance was 53713, with 18.5% of all households receiving assistance, followed by 53704 at 14.0%, 53711 at 10.5%, and 53590 at 10.1% of total households.
Of the initial payments of arrears, $1,091,176.52 (16.3%) were issued to households residing in 53713, $953,705.85 (14.2%) to 53704, $841,603.34 (12.5%) to 53590, and $679,872.32 (10.1%) to 53711.
57% of households that received assistance were led by people identifying as female, with 68.9% reporting being non-white, with 54.8% identifying as Black or African American. 14.5% report being Hispanic or Latinx.
Financial Assistance Details
Of the total assistance provided, $7,067,513.31 (71.0%) was issued to cover back-owed balances at the time of our initial application processing. $1,188,697.41 (11.9%) was issued to households receiving monthly forward rent assistance for the three months following our initial payment. $899,627.57 (9.0%) was issued for subsequent arrears to households after receiving our initial assistance and $564,862.52 (5.7%) was issued to utility providers on behalf of tenants. The remaining 2.4% was issued as adjustments to our payments after receiving documents from landlords that were missing from the initial application process and resulted in withholdings to our payments.
At the average monthly rent, our financial assistance accounts for 7,630 months of financial assistance. In providing this assistance, our staff reviewed 8,336 months of activity from rent ledgers to determine the amount of eligible assistance under the program rules and regulations. As a result of these reviews, $332,189.53 (3.3%) was withheld for charges that were either ineligible under the program rules, were charged in error, or represent charges that were otherwise considered junk fees. The most common charges withheld are court costs that weren’t awarded by a judge, late fees charged in error, late fees charged in excess of the program’s limits, or charges that weren’t included in the rental agreement. For more details on junk fees or other withheld charges, please see our Quarter 2 report from 2024.
Of the total assistance provided, the largest amounts were provided on behalf of tenants living at HVG Elver Park totaling $294,484.75 (2.9%), Wildwood on Main - Roers Sun Prairie for $166,784.54 (1.6%), Rolling Prairie Apartment Homes LLC for $157,363.57 (1.6%), and The Meadowlands for $153,595.44 (1.5%). The average total of assistance provided to each landlord in 2024 was $20,411.17, which aligns with the eviction filing data for 2024 where a small number of landlords account for a disproportionately large share of all filings and applications for assistance.
For assistance provided, 81.9% of the total applications processed were for cases where an eviction action had been filed with the remaining 18.1% for either security deposits for households that were previously court-involved or eviction diversion cases. Financial assistance for households that were currently in the eviction process accounted for $8,977,185.12 (90.1%) of the total assistance provided.
Processing Challenges
In processing applications for assistance, the program has had to adapt in order to keep up with the pace of applications submitted. There are two primary factors that have created challenges.
First, the number of active eviction cases seeking financial assistance has grown considerably over the lifespan of the program. In 2024, there were 2,656 cases filed, 88% of which landlords identified back-owed rents as at least one of the causes for filing the action. This volume of cases has put considerable strain on the program.
Second, possibly in part because of the factor above, the responsiveness of parties involved in eviction actions has been more difficult than ever, with requests for documents from tenants and landlords going unanswered for over 30 days roughly 18% of the time.