Newark’s Response to Pandemic Housing Crisis is a ‘Success Story’, Study Says

TOM WIEDMANN

1 March, 2022

NEWARK, NJ — The City of Newark’s ability to distribute federal Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funds during a housing crisis spurred by the coronavirus pandemic was lauded as a “success story” compared to other large New Jersey cities, according to a recent study by the New Jersey State Policy Lab at Rutgers University.

The study, “The New Jersey Housing Crisis in a COVID Era: Mapping Strategic Processes,” looked at the impact and challenges faced by local governments seeking to dole out rental assistance during the pandemic, particularly in urban cities where housing shortages and evictions existed before March 2020. Alongside Newark, the study focused on the efforts of four municipalities to disburse federal aid in Jersey City, Trenton, Elizabeth and Camden.

In December 2021, Newark officials announced that the city committed its full $20.3 million allocations of ERAP funds to more than 1,800 households. Newark was highlighted as a standout in the study for its efforts to “quickly recognize obstacles and overcome them," pointing to the city’s partnership with consulting group Ernst & Young to run its web portal and digital strategy and noted it was the only one of the five cities to allocate all its funding.

“Department heads and city staff realized they didn’t have the capacity to record and understand the metrics of distribution,” said David Troutt, the founding director of the Newark-based Rutgers Center of Law, Inequality and Metropolitan Equity, and lead author of the study. “And rather than trying to push through and hope for the best, they sought outside assistance. It really was a case of taking stock of one’s own capacity.”

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Newark’s Response to Pandemic Housing Crisis is a ‘Success Story’, Study Says