The COVID-19 pandemic took a severe toll on the U.S. economy as the public health crisis triggered steep job losses, business and school closures, supply backlogs, and rising inflation and rent. Households with low incomes were already rent-burdened before the pandemic and the pandemic’s economic fallout further exacerbated existing conditions. Higher rent and income loss mean that households may have fewer resources for food. Indeed, renter households with low incomes experienced sharp pandemic-era increases in material hardships, including food insecurity. The federal government responded to the mounting crisis in 2020-2022 by allocating an unprecedented $46 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA). To better understand the potential role of ERA in addressing material hardships, this study examines how general receipt of ERA (i.e., both local and federal) is associated with food and housing hardships among renter households with low incomes (i.e., having incomes less than 50 percent of the local median family income) that include children. Since housing costs constitute a major share of household budgets, we hypothesize that ERA may have also mitigated food insecurity by increasing disposable income for food. Indeed, recent studies suggest that ERA was effective in reducing housing insecurity during the pandemic. This brief describes the study, presents key findings, and discusses the broader implications of this research.