When emergency assistance programs launch under crisis conditions, operational success depends on more than funding and eligibility rules. It also depends on whether the right people receive the right information at the right time. During the 2020 pandemic, that challenge became especially urgent as a state-level agency was tasked with standing up large-scale rental assistance programs for both tenants and landlords in a matter of weeks.

Karma Advisory helped the agency build the communication infrastructure needed to support that mission.

As a grantee for the Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the agency was responsible for helping distribute relief as part of a nationwide initiative totaling approximately $46.5 billion. In parallel, it also created the Landlord Rental Assistance Program to support landlords in cases where tenants were unwilling to apply for ERAP or had already vacated the property. Managing communications across those two programs required more than outreach volume. It required a coordinated, multi-audience communication strategy that could support timely grant disbursement, improve participant experience, and bring greater structure to a rapidly evolving operating environment.

The Challenge

The agency needed to stand up internal policies, procedures, and grant administration operations in an extremely compressed timeframe. One of its most pressing needs was a comprehensive communication strategy and implementation plan that could support efficient operations while helping relief funds move quickly to those who needed them.

That challenge was complicated by the fact that the agency was serving two related but operationally distinct audiences: tenants and landlords.

For ERAP, communications had to support both groups, often through different channels and with different constraints. Tenant outreach needed to be available across email, postal mail, and text, with multilingual support in nine languages. Landlord communication relied more heavily on email, but tenant applications did not always include owner email addresses, requiring alternative outreach methods such as text or automated calling. Messaging also had to account for the limitations of each medium, including text character limits and varying data completeness.

For LRAP, the communication model was more landlord-centric, with most notices sent only through email and only in English. Tenant communication was more limited, largely confined to payment approval notices sent by postal mail in English and Spanish. Beyond those notices, tenant communication lacked a defined structure, in part because landlord submissions were not required to include tenant email addresses.

The result was a high-stakes communication environment with fragmented data, multiple audiences, varying language and channel requirements, and significant room for inconsistency if not managed carefully.

The Approach

Karma worked with ERAP and LRAP project leaders to design and operationalize an overall communications plan for both tenants and landlords.

The goal was not simply to create messages, but to build a structured communication framework the agency could use to manage volume, maintain consistency, and improve oversight across both programs. That meant establishing clearer processes, centralizing communication tracking, standardizing templates, and improving how outbound communications were managed across channels.

Karma helped implement tools and trackers that gave the agency greater visibility into communication workflows, deadlines, approvals, and stakeholder impact. We also supported the creation of a centralized communication database and tracker, giving the program a more reliable operational backbone for managing notices across audiences, mediums, and languages.

To support execution, the engagement also included coordination with development teams on application enhancements, routine maintenance, and issue resolution—helping ensure the communications infrastructure was supported by the underlying technology required to keep it functioning smoothly.

What Karma Delivered

Karma delivered a structured communication framework and supporting tools to help the agency manage tenant and landlord outreach more effectively across ERAP and LRAP.

This included:

• A comprehensive communications plan for tenants and landlords

• A centralized communication database serving as the repository for program communications

• A communication tracker capturing key details such as unique identifier, communication type, audience, medium, impacted applications, due dates, status, and file path

• A customer service representative portal to manage bulk communications across email, postal mail, and text

• A client review tracker to monitor notices requiring agency review, response, or approval

• Notification templates to support more consistent, streamlined, and accurate communication

• Ongoing coordination with development teams on enhancements, maintenance, and bug fixes

The Outcome

The communications plan improved program communication and contributed to stronger satisfaction among program participants.

By creating a more structured and centralized communication operating model, Karma helped the agency better manage the complexity of serving both tenants and landlords across two related programs. The new framework improved visibility into communication workflows, supported greater consistency in outreach, and provided the tools needed to manage volume more effectively across multiple channels and audiences.

The work also helped the agency move from reactive communication management toward a more organized system of tracking, approvals, and standardized messaging. In a fast-moving relief environment, that structure mattered. It supported more efficient operations, reduced the likelihood of inconsistent notices, and helped reinforce the program’s ability to deliver timely updates to stakeholders whose circumstances were often urgent and sensitive.

Why It Mattered

In emergency assistance programs, communication is not peripheral to service delivery. It is part of service delivery.

By helping the agency create a more coordinated communication strategy for ERAP and LRAP, Karma strengthened the operational systems that supported timely relief distribution and participant trust. The engagement shows how communication planning, when treated as a core program capability rather than an afterthought, can materially improve how large-scale public assistance programs function.

Closing Perspective

Karma Advisory helps organizations bring structure and operational discipline to complex, high-volume programs. In this case, that meant helping a state agency build the communication engine needed to support emergency housing relief at scale—improving coordination, consistency, and stakeholder experience across two critical assistance programs.