Looking for rental assistance?

Renters and landlords can find out what emergency rental assistance covers, how it works, and who’s eligible on the interagency housing portal hosted by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB).

Example screens for ERA program online applications

Treasury is providing example reference screens to help grantees with implementing ERA program online applications. These screens demonstrate best practices for service delivery and can be an inspiration for how grantees may iterate and evolve their applications and programs to better serve tenants and landlords.

These example pages can be used by program administrators and staff or vendors in building or modifying ERA applications. The goal is to demonstrate ways grantees and their partners can create online application forms that are user-friendly, succinct, and easily understood.

Example eligibility screens

As described in Treasury's FAQs, grantees must determine who is eligible to receive rental assistance. The following screens show examples of each of the conditions of eligibility. Treasury understands that aspects of these examples will need to be adapted to meet their localized needs and program requirements.

Within these examples is a documentation strategy that leverages self-attestation within the ERA application itself. These can be a model that grantees may be able to learn from and use to help reduce their processing bottlenecks, barrier bust documentation hurdles for tenants, and therefore, keep people stably housed.

Highlighted within these initial eligibility screens are the practices detailed in "Guidelines for ERA program online applications". Each of the following examples demonstrates elements of those guidelines.

Screen list

COVID-19 pandemic impact

Based on conversations with grantees and tenants, it can be difficult to describe and document financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Because of this we've used examples to help tenants identify their experiences.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling the COVID-19 pandemic impact eligibility questions for Emergency Rental Assistance. The screen includes annotations A thru E.
  1. Break the process into steps and indicate where the user is in the process using a step indicator
  2. One thing per page
  3. Use examples and lists instead of requiring blocks of text
  4. Winter 2021-2022 home heating costs are predicted to increase in light of COVID-19 related supply chain issues around energy production and distribution causing cost increases in the energy sector, particularly with home heating.
  5. Use self-attestation to demonstrate financial hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
  6. Provide human interaction and support to applicants
Example screen snippet showing a user interface for handling the COVID-19 pandemic impact eligibility language alteration between ERA1 and ERA2.
  1. If an applicant indicates they did not have any expenses "due to" the pandemic, the online application should prompt with a follow-up question asking if the applicant has experienced a financial hardship "during" the pandemic to reflect the less restrictive standard established for ERA2. If the applicant answer’s "yes", the list of checkboxes reflecting the ERA2 standard would be presented.

Residence and monthly rent

The simplest ways to document that a tenant has a rental obligation are to obtain a copy of the tenant’s current lease or a verification letter from the landlord. However, some tenants may be unable to provide these documents. This example illustrates how confirmation of a tenant’s address at a rental property or a documented history of rental payments may be used as a substitute form of verification.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling the residence and monthly rent eligibility questions for Emergency Rental Assistance. The screen includes annotations F thru H.
  1. If a tenant has a lease or a letter from their landlord, there's no need to request additional documentation to confirm that a rental obligation exists. When these documents are not available, the focus shifts to proving the tenant’s residence at a rental property through other means.
  2. Offer document upload. Suggest to applicants what types of documents are acceptable.
Example screen showing a user interface for handling the residence and monthly rent eligibility questions for Emergency Rental Assistance when the applicant does not have documentation. The screen includes annotations H and I.
  1. Hide complexity from an applicant until or unless they must take action. Use progressive disclosure to hide the upload document component and reveal the self-attestation checkbox based on the answer to “Do you have documents that show your past rent payments?”
  2. Allow applicants to progress and self-attest if they cannot provide documentation.

Risk of housing instability or homelessness

The following example illustrates the use of progressive disclosure in an application form. This approach reveals questions one at a time and based on the applicant’s prior response.

As shown in the example, applicants who indicate they have received a past due or eviction notice are asked if they are able to provide and upload the document. Applicants who indicate they have not received a notice are prompted to identify their experiences with other housing risks.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling the risk of housing instability or homelessness questions for Emergency Rental Assistance when the applicant can upload documentation.

This example attempts to capture a range of factors that can lead to risk of housing instability or homelessness. The intention is to help tenants see themselves and/or their situation within the checklist options offered and to avoid asking tenants to provide a narrative. The checklist may be expanded to capture other program policy elections, as applicable.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling the risk of housing instability or homelessness questions for Emergency Rental Assistance when the applicant does not have documentation.

Income - Fact-specific proxy

Grantees may rely on a fact-specific proxy to further validate the amount of household income that a tenant represents through self-attestation. This approach involves cross-checking the tenant’s stated income against statistical data for a particular population group or geographic area relevant to the household. The following example shows how grantees can cross-reference household size and income against statistical data published by federal agencies. Useful resources include:

  • Department of Housing and Urban Development’s "Access Individual Income Limits Areas" data
  • American Community Survey (ACS), specifically US Census 2019 5-Year Estimates Tables S1901 and S2503, or the most recent version of that data when available
Example screen showing a user interface for handling the income eligibility questions for Emergency Rental Assistance using a fact-specific proxy.

Income - Categorical eligibility

This example involves confirming income eligibility by relying on the applicant’s participation in other income-tested federal or state assistance programs.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling income eligibility questions for Emergency Rental Assistance when the applicant is categorically eligible.
  1. Grantees should adjust the list of programs to reflect additional programs available in their jurisdiction.

Income - Self-attestation

Example screen showing a user interface for handling income eligibility questions for Emergency Rental Assistance offering self-attestation.
  1. Be sure to offer self-attestation if the applicant cannot provide any documentation.

Rent assistance request

This example shows a way to structure the rent assistance portion of an application. It allows the applicant to fill in each month they are asking for assistance on, as well as any fees, and calculates the total amount of assistance requested for them.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling the rental assistance an applicant is requesting.
  1. Including a section on past assistance that was received from other programs can help identify and prevent any overlap in assistance given to the applicant.
  2. Including a list of the potential months helps applicants think through each month. It also provides more granular data for program administrators.
Example snippet of a screen showing a modal window prompt for the applicant to confirm their request.
  1. It is appropriate to get applicants to confirm their rent assistance request and to underline the importance of making an accurate and truthful request.

Utility assistance request

This example illustrates how you can structure the section on utility assistance. It utilizes progressive disclosure, only showing applicable sections. For example, if the applicant only checks that they need assistance with gas bills, only additional fields pertaining to the gas bill will be shown.

Example screen showing a user interface for handling the utility assistance an applicant is requesting.
  1. Grantees should adjust the list of utilities, and the examples of each utility, to ensure the utilities listed are consistent with the specific policies and procedures that have been developed locally.
  2. Use examples of what is covered in order to help applicants determine their eligibility for utility assistance.
Example screen showing a user interface for handling an internet utility assistance request.
  1. Asking for the total amount that the tenant owes for the utility allows all fees needed to maintain that utility to be included.
  2. If an applicant's utility bill is bundled with other non-eligible services and thus needs to be broken apart, details on how to do so should be included here. Grantees should adjust the content in the help text to be consistent with the specific policies and procedures that have been developed locally.
  3. If the applicant cannot provide a bill, capture the necessary information using an extended form.