BISMARCK — North Dakota’s temporary, pandemic emergency response program for renters experiencing housing instability will begin ramping down in anticipation of the September 2025 expiration of federal funding available through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA), North Dakota Health and Human Services (HHS) has announced.

North Dakota has used the temporary pandemic funds available for emergency rent assistance to provide housing stability supports both to people who are experiencing homelessness and to people who are housed but at imminent risk of losing their housing, according to an HHS news release.

Since May 2021, these dollars have made a range of housing stability resources available to more than 56,000 people in 51 of North Dakota’s 53 counties.

HHS receives approximately 200 new applications each week from North Dakota households who are either unhoused or at risk of losing their housing. To ensure expenditures align with the end date for this funding, HHS will stop accepting applications from households experiencing homelessness on March 15 and from households who are housed but at risk of eviction on June 30.

North Dakota intends to fully utilize the funds that are available to provide eviction prevention resources to its residents and state housing providers for as long as they are available. The anticipated end date for all pandemic-era eviction prevention resources and rental assistance is Sept.15. 

Both crisis services and resources for housing stabilization are important elements of Gov. Kelly Armstrong’s housing agenda, with proposed resources included in the executive budget requests being considered by the 69th Legislative Assembly for the North Dakota Housing Finance Agency and HHS. These requests are in addition to funds that have been requested to address housing supply issues, through programs administered by the Bank of North Dakota, Department of Commerce and North Dakota Housing Finance Agency.  

Since it first became available in May 2021, the North Dakota Housing Stability program has worked with local partners to provide temporary rental assistance, eviction prevention, and re-housing assistance to 56,283 people living in 28,466 unique households. This statewide program has directly impacted people living in 51 North Dakota counties; one-third (18,644) of the people who benefitted from this resource have been children ages 0-17. The program has served as the vehicle to invest more than $187 million in federal funds that were available for this purpose.