Renters have been hit particularly hard by the economic impact of COVID. Millions have lost income, and many have responded to these losses by tapping into savings, borrowing from friends or family, and/or relying on stimulus payments or unemployment insurance to pay the rent and purchase other necessities. In this presentation, Sophia Wedeen, a Center Research Assistant, will discuss a forthcoming paper (co-authored with Whitney Airgood-Obrycki, Chris Herbert, and Alexander Hermann) that uses data from the US Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey to see how these impacts and responses vary by race, ethnicity, income, and household composition. The paper, which builds on an earlier working paper that reviewed existing research on these impacts and responses, will also assess whether particular spending strategies have been more likely to keep financially-strapped tenants from falling behind on their rent.