Calculating Average Number of Months of Assistance_EOUpdate_May2025

Calculating Average Number of Months of ERA2 Assistance

All ERA2 grantees must report the average number of months for which they paid ERA2 assistance to or for participant households between the date of receipt of the ERA2 award and the end of the current reporting period.

Grantees must report the following averages on the Rental Assistance Project Data Tab:

• The overall average number of months for which the Recipient paid participant households any amount for any type of ERA2 assistance (rent, rent arrears, utilities, utilities arrears).

Steps for calculating this average:

Step 1: Sum the total number of months of assistance the Recipient paid all households for any types of ERA2 assistance through the end of the current reporting period.

Step 2: Divide that total number of months (calculated in Step 1) by the number of participant households that received at least one payment for any types of assistance through the end of the current reporting period.

• The average number of months for which the Recipient paid participant households for a specific type of ERA2 assistance.

Steps for calculating these averages for each type of assistance separately (rent, rent arrears, utilities, utilities arrears)

For example, to calculate the average number of months for which rental assistance was paid:

Step 1: Sum the total number of months of assistance the recipient paid all households any amount for rental assistance through the end of the current reporting period.

Step 2: Divide that total number of months (calculated in Step 1) by the number of participant households that received at least one payment of Rental Assistance through the end of the reporting period.

Use the same calculation for each type of ERA2 assistance (Rent, Rental Arrears, Utilities, Utilities Arrears)

Detailed Example

Where the Recipient paid for a total of 1,000 months of rental assistance to or for 500 participant households, the average number of months of rental assistance provided would be:

1,000 months for which rental assistance was paid / 500 participant households that received rental assistance payment(s) = An Average of 2 months.

Grantees also must report the average number of months for which they paid any amount of ERA2 assistance to participant households broken out by the demographic characteristics of the head of the participant households. (Report these average amounts on the Emergency Rental Assistance Project Demographics Data Tab, Table 4.)

Steps for calculating the average number of months of ERA2 Rental Assistance (rent, rent arrears, utilities, utilities arrears) paid to households by demographic characteristic.

For example, to calculate the average number of months of ERA2 Rental Assistance paid to female headed households.

Step 1: Sum the total number of months of ERA2 rental assistance the Recipient to female headed households through the end of the reporting period.

Step 2: Divide the total number of months (calculated above) by the number of female headed households that received at least one payment of any amount for rental assistance through the end of the reporting period.

Detailed Example

Where the Recipient has provided a total of 500 months of rental assistance to 200 female headed households, the average number of months of rental assistance provided to households in this demographic category would be:

500 months / 200 female-headed households = An Average of 2.5 months

The standard demographic characteristics are as follows:

Race of the head of household
Ethnicity of the head of household
Sex of the head of household

A “month of assistance” is defined as any calendar month for which the ERA2 Recipient makes a payment to or for a household or a particular type of ERA2 assistance (a payment of any amount).

Where the ERA2 Recipient provides a household one payment for rental costs that the household incurred in a single month, the payment is considered one month of assistance.

Where the ERA2 Recipient provides a household one payment for costs for multiple types of assistance (such as one payment that covers both rent and utilities) that the household incurred in a single month, the combination of rental and utility assistance payments is considered one month of assistance.

Where the ERA2 Recipient provides a household one payment for the costs for multiple types of assistance (such as one payment that covers utilities and utilities arrears) incurred by the household over more than one month, such as when the ERA2 Recipient pays one $1,000 payment that covers $400 for utilities incurred in April and $400 for utilities to be incurred in June, the payment is considered to be two months of assistance.

Invoices for costs during a multi-month period (quarterly invoices for utilities for example) may be equally distributed among the months in the multi-month period.

Calculating Average Number of Months of Assistance v3
May XX, 2025

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