Not funny: State governments are playing games with needed rent relief

I’ve proposed something called the Rent Assistance Advance Program (RAAP) to distribute needed $25 billion in federal rent relief. The RAAP idea looks more like the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) that used banks and lenders to get cash where it was needed quickly. I have a post at Forbes about this program and more about the shenanigans going on at the local level. Here’s the punchline:

“If state governments really want to help resolve economic challenges of poor people who are disproportionately people of color, they would just pay the rent! We can make the distribution of rent relief more efficient if state and local governments get out of the way and allow banks and credit unions to work with their customers to get a tally of unpaid rent, put the money in their accounts, and settle the details later.”