Increasing rental counseling capacity and awareness as a prescription for COVID-19 Walsh, John, author. Berger, Gideon, author. Ratcliffe, Janneke, author. Gerecke, Sarah, author. Counseling Housing Vulnerable Populations COVID-19 This brief examines the evolving state of renters’ housing and financial security, the landscape of rental housing counseling, and the potential for counseling to help renters maintain housing through the pandemic. Based on lessons learned from the role expanded housing counseling played to help homeowners reduce the risk of default and foreclosure after the Great Recession, we posit that rental housing counseling might help renters manage budgets and debt, reduce rental arrears, prevent evictions, or arrange for a planned move if they cannot afford the apartment. The partnerships developed with legal services organizations and the infrastructure to expand service delivery remain intact, pending resources to tailor them for renters’ needs. Washington, DC : Urban Institute, December 2020 Urban Institute, issuing body. Technical Report Text Illustrations 1 online resource (1 PDF file (20 pages)) nlm:nlmuid-9918266200306676-pdf 9918266200306676 http://resource.nlm.nih.gov/9918266200306676 English United States Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further use of the material is subject to CC BY-NC-DC license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0