STEP Program

STEP PROGRAM RENT RELIEF FOR HOUSEHOLDS IMPACTED BY COVID

Pete and Maria were about to be evicted after they both lost their jobs in the early months of the pandemic. They couldn’t go back to work fulltime to make ends meet while their two young children were in online schooling.

Just as they were getting back on track, the whole family contracted COVID and had to quarantine, putting them even further behind on rent. United Way’s STEP (Strategic Targeted Eviction Prevention) program was able to wipe their rent debt clean so they could focus on getting ahead in their lives.

United Way’s STEP program provides rental assistance to atrisk households in vulnerable communities by using data to identify priority zip codes or “hot spots” with high rates of COVID, evictions, and structural/racialized poverty. STEP quickly and efficiently distributes federal funds by bundling delinquent accounts for bulk eviction “This made everything—EVERYTHING—better. I don’t have to break my back and arms and legs working 80 hours a week to pay the back rent.”

—STEP RECIPIENT

prevention. Lump-sum payments are made directly to landlords that help as many as 100 households at once. Since its 2020 launch in Baltimore County, the STEP Program has expanded its reach to Baltimore City, Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Harford, and Howard counties.

We’ve helped thousands of hard-working families just like this one, who fell behind on rent and became at risk of homelessness through no fault of their own. Learn more at uwcm.org/STEP

STEP CUMULATIVE OUTCOMES

(Jan 2021–June 2022)

$64.2 million distributed to pay past-due rent and utilities for 7,586 households, including

• $4.3 million in CARES

Act funds distributed

January–February 2021 • $39.9 million in ERA-1 funds distributed July 2021–March 2022

*151 participating landlords representing 349 apartment communities and properties

$8,457 in rent and utility assistance provided on average to each household

Of the more than 15,983 program beneficiaries served, 54% were children

*This is only FY22 and is not cumulative of services provided during the pilot (JAN 2021)

STEP RECIPIENT SURVEY

90% agreed that the application process was easy and straightforward.

Nearly 80% learned about the STEP Program from their landlord.