Housing and advocacy groups ask for $25 million to continue state emergency rental assistance pilot

Representatives of housing and legal advocacy organizations asked the House Appropriations Subcommittee to appropriate $25 million to continue the Department of Community Affairs' emergency rental assistance pilot when federal funds expire.

Elizabeth Apley, representing a coalition that included House ATL, Enterprise Community Partners, the Corporation for Supportive Housing, 9 to 5 Georgia and others, said Georgia landlords and renters saw over $1 billion in federal emergency rental assistance. The Department of Community Affairs used remaining federal funds to run a pilot program that contracted with Atlanta Legal Aid Society and Georgia Legal Services Program to provide legal services and navigators to prequalify applicants and allocated roughly $2 million a month for emergency rental assistance.

Apley said the pilot effectively helps families through short‑term crises (job loss, medical emergency) and prevents evictions. She cited research estimating that each eviction costs local communities more than $11,200 in emergency shelter, child welfare, health care and other services, and argued that short‑term rental assistance is cost‑effective compared with those expenses and negative outcomes for children and families.

Advocates asked the subcommittee to include $25 million in FY 2026 to sustain the program, saying it targets short‑term crises rather than long‑term income‑rent mismatches. She noted the pilot helps income‑eligible households and leverages nonprofit legal services and navigators.

Committee members thanked the presenters and said staff would follow up if questions arise; no formal vote was recorded in the hearing.