As a current recipient of VERP funding, we are grateful for the opportunity to administer this program and have witnessed its positive impact firsthand. The program has contributed to a measurable reduction in housing loss due to eviction, while also fostering stronger collaboration among community stakeholders. Through coordinated planning and implementation, partners have worked together toward the shared goal of making evictions rare, brief, and humane when they occur.

While I support accountability and equitable access to assistance, I am concerned that requiring programs to prioritize households based on risk factors could create significant administrative barriers that undermine the timely intervention necessary to prevent eviction. Eviction prevention is most effective when assistance can be delivered quickly, before legal proceedings advance and housing instability escalates. It is practical and trauma-informed to set a specific priority for cases in which a judgement has already been ordered.

In practice, a prioritization requirement often necessitates the creation and management of waitlists, additional assessments, and more complex eligibility determinations. These processes can slow assistance delivery and divert limited staff capacity away from direct service. Delays can be particularly detrimental in eviction prevention, where the difference of a few days can determine whether a household remains stably housed.

My concern is informed by observations of coordinated entry systems within the homeless services sector, which rely heavily on prioritization. While well-intentioned, these systems often result in confusion, frustration, and lengthy waits for vulnerable households seeking assistance. Extending a similar approach to eviction prevention programs risks introducing the same barriers and unintended consequences into a system designed to respond rapidly to housing crises.

I encourage the state to preserve local flexibility in determining how assistance is delivered and to prioritize approaches that maximize speed, accessibility, and housing stability outcomes. Maintaining streamlined access to eviction prevention resources will better support the program's core mission of keeping households safely housed and preventing the trauma and costs associated with displacement.