Given the critical role that landlords play in providing rental housing, it is important to understand not just how the pandemic had affected tenants, but also the financial hardships the pandemic placed on landlords. Regardless of whether a tenant could make rent payments, landlords had costs related to their rental property such as mortgages, taxes, utilities, and maintenance expenses. While many landlords were able to pull back on expenses as revenues declined, they were simply delaying costs that they would need to make up down the road. To offset this burden, the U.S. Congress, in 2021, established the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program to help eligible low-income households pay for rent, rental arrears, utilities, and other housing-related expenses during the COVID-19 epidemic. And to offset the burden placed on the landlord, the CARES Act also allowed for the ERA benefit to be sent directly to them. An allowance that fraudsters, like Tanisha Gray, took advantage of.
Beginning in 2022, Tanisha Gray applied as a landlord for rental assistance from the Idaho Housing and Finance Association and other housing programs. The problem was, she didn’t own any homes for rent. Gray submitted fake and fraudulent applications identifying herself as a landlord for numerous homes. As part of the scheme, Gray supplied bogus supporting material, such as fictitious leases, property management agreements, rental arrears ledgers, tenant income records, addresses, and eligibility certifications.
Gray collected more than $62,000 in fraud proceeds as a consequence of fraudulent applications she submitted to several programs for emergency rental assistance in Idaho. On March 23, 2025, Tanisha Gray pled guilty to COVID-19 Rental Assistance Fraud.
Excellent job by the United States Secret Service in this case.
Today’s Fraud of The Day is based on article “Woman pleads guilty to fraudulently obtaining rental assistance in COVID-19 relief program” published by East Idaho News on March 23, 2025.
Tanisha Gray, 39, of Houston, Texas, pleaded guilty to wire fraud, Acting U.S. Attorney Justin Whatcott announced. Gray fraudulently obtained emergency rental assistance from Idaho Housing and Finance Association (IHFA) and other states’ housing programs that were providing housing assistance for individuals unable to pay rent due to a financial hardship related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In early 2021, Congress established the Emergency Rental Assistance (ERA) program to provide financial assistance to eligible low-income households to cover the costs of rent, rental arrears, utilities, and other housing-related expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic.
