For Housing Choice Voucher landlords, if the tenant has lost their job because of the Coronavirus or for any other reason, the family needs to immediately report the change in income to the PHA. The PHA will do a new calculation and based on the new circumstances, most likely lower the portion of rent paid by the family and raise the amount the PHA pays directly to the landlord.
For landlords not participating in HUD or Government funded housing programs, there are rental assistance programs offered by states. Unfortunately, application deadlines for many states have passed. For example, in Maryland there was a re-launch of its Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) for landlords in October but the deadline to apply was November 10, 2020. Same in Pennsylvania, Virginia and other states. However, some states are still taking coronavirus rental assistance applications for tenants, although many of those program deadlines have also passed. As of November 17, 2020, another coronavirus relief bill is being discussed in the Senate. To learn how to contact your Senator to voice your concerns, you may use this link: https://www.senate.gov/senators/How_to_correspond_senators.htm
