The largest portion of funds for the EDDP come from federal Emergency Rental Assistance (“ERA”) funds. ERA was established by the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 and then was expanded by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021, providing a total of $46 billion in COVID-related support for eligible renters and landlords. Locally, these funds were utilized to provide rental assistance through the Tenant Resource Center, commonly referred to as CORE 1.0, then later expanded to include other organizations providing assistance as CORE 2.0.

Following the closure of CORE 2.0 programs, the only widespread rental assistance programming remaining became the EDDP, with a focus on eviction prevention work. The EDDP has operated since late 2021.

ERA funds have a final expiration date of September 30th, 2025, meaning that local programs need to be completely wrapped up by this date. In order to meet this deadline, the Tenant Resource Center, City of Madison, and Dane County have set the following schedule for winding down the program.

Important Dates for Rental Assistance
March 31st, 2025

• Deadline for tenants and landlords to complete applications for assistance.
• Applications submitted after this deadline will continue to be processed as capacity allows.

June 26th, 2025

• Final payments for back-owed rents will be issued.

July 31st, 2025

• Final payments for security deposits and first month’s rent will be issued.

August 14th, 2025

• Final payments for forward rents will be issued.

What Do These Deadlines Mean?
With the program winding down, our priority is to ensure that applications completed prior to March 31st get processed in a timely manner. This does not mean that the program will cease accepting applications after this date. Instead, we will continue to process applications as capacity allows. Applicants should reach out to their assigned EDDP team member to find out what remaining steps are needed to complete applications for assistance.

For renters that receive an eviction filing after March 31st, we recommend coming into our offices to receive the latest updates on the program and see what financial assistance is available. Our staff will continue to provide services to tenants in navigating the court process and identifying solutions using whatever resources are available.

For landlords, please note that delayed responses could result in either signficant delays in processing your application or a lack of available capacity to process your application entirely. Please be sure to check Neighborly frequently for task requests and direct any questions you may have about your applications to the staff member assigned to your applications.

Further updates will follow as the program continues to wind down.