Using TANF Funding to Provide Housing Assistance During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a cornerstone of America’s approach to supporting self-sufficiency. Because TANF is a federal block grant program, states have considerable discretion and flexibility in determining their policies, financing, and implementation approach. TANF is an important tool that states can leverage in connecting families experiencing homelessness to the services they need, including TANF-funded services such as cash assistance and childcare support, and more traditional housing supports such as rapid re-housing programs and subsidized housing. This brief examines how TANF agencies supported families early in the COVID-19 pandemic.

• The pandemic exacerbated hardships faced by low-income households in the rental housing market. Specifically, families faced a loss of income due to pandemic shutdowns, a decline in the availability of short-term rental subsidies, and a decline in housing units with affordable rents. At the same time, families also struggled to balance work and other commitments with needing to support their children who were now participating in remote schooling or no longer able to attend child care.
• The Boulder County Department of Housing and Human Services provides an integrated service delivery model of care, including cash assistance, housing, food assistance, and employment services. This collaboration enabled county staff, in partnership with community organizations, to offer short-term rental assistance for families already receiving TANF assistance by repurposing existing TANF funds.
• Policy and operational shifts in TANF agencies due to the COVID-19 pandemic included providing services remotely via videoconference or telephone; adapting TANF policy around participation requirements; and prioritizing higher-risk populations to receive housing assistance.
• Lessons learned from Boulder County’s early pandemic response include leveraging any existing integration of housing with other social services to enable a quick response; repurposing unspent TANF funds to provide rental assistance; streamlining eligibility processes and the process for distributing funds to families; helping families who previously have not been serviced by TANF programs; and gaining community support to raise awareness about available assistance.

To understand state TANF agencies’ overall philosophies and policies toward addressing family homelessness and the extent to which local TANF programs are implementing these policies, the Abt team conducted a scan of TANF agency practices in 2018 and 2019. The scan included a systematic document review of 25 state TANF plans and an online survey of all state TANF administrators and a sample of three local TANF administrators in each state.

The Abt team also completed five site visits to provide more detailed, in-depth information about how TANF programs use TANF and MOE funds to assist families experiencing or at risk of homelessness. In November 2018, the Abt team conducted a pilot site visit to Mercer County, New Jersey. In September and October 2020, the Abt team completed virtual site visits with four additional communities: Boulder County, Colorado; Nashville, Tennessee; Atlanta, Georgia; and Shasta County, California.

Glosser, Asaph, Lauren Dunton, and Cara Sierks. (2021). Using TANF Funding to Provide Housing Assistance during the COVID-19 Pandemic. OPRE Report No. 2021-239. Washington, DC: Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.