Millions of Americans Facing Possible Eviction as the end of Housing Protection nears
As the housing protection is coming to an end, millions of Americans who are behind their rents could face eviction. People of color, those belonging to the lower income bracket and older Americans are most at risk. Housing advocates believe that lifting the moratorium amid the Covid19 pandemic is ill timed for both property owners and renters alike, as states still jostling to give out the $45 billion rental aid.
According to reports, more than 11 million Americans who are behind on their rents are facing possible eviction from their rented homes once the national eviction ban expires in June.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) eviction moratorium has prevented lots of people from being pushed from their homes since September last year. The CDC helped millions of Americans who lost their jobs and are behind their rents from being evicted during the global health crisis. The ban is said to be lifted this June 30th.
Although the policy was far from being perfect, it has significantly reduced the number of eviction filings over the same period. Peter Hepburn, assistant professor of Sociology at the Rutgers University – Newark said that the number of renters being pushed from their homes dropped by almost half. Hepburn is also a research fellow at the Eviction Lab. But with the looming lifting of the eviction moratorium this June, the numbers of Americans facing eviction could greatly balloon.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said that about 15% of adult renters are behind their housing payments.
John Pollock who is the coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel said “We are going to see what we have been managing to stave off this wave of evictions that is just going to crush some of the areas.”
The eviction ban by CDC was met with various legal impediments and challenges, not to mention the large number of landlords who were not in favor of the said moratorium. They oppose this moratorium and said that they cannot afford to accommodate people for free or shoulder the country’s massive rental backlogs, which could skyrocketed up to $70 billion.
However, people who are in favor of the eviction ban, or those in the housing advocates, said that lifting the eviction ban during this covid-19 pandemic is not only ill timed for renters but is also a terrible time for landlords, with states still scrambling to find ways to efficiently distribute the $45 billion rental assistance which the Congress have already allocated in order to address this current problem. The national Low Income Housing Coalition said that the amount allocated by Congress is unprecedented citing that during the Great Recession, the renters then were given about $1.5 billion in financial assistance.
Mark Melton said, “We need to let this moratorium stay in place until we spend all this money.” Melton serves as a pro bono lawyer representing lots of tenants who are facing eviction in Dallas, Texas. “If you bail out the renter that means you bailed out the landlord.”
48 year old Heather Jordan said that she was approved for the rental assistance in Missouri. She however said that it would take about weeks before the financial help or for the money to reach her landlord. And that could be too little too late, as her landlord has already moved to push her from her rented home.
Jordan lost her sales job shortly after the country was hit by the covid-19 pandemic. She then fell behind her $1,475 rent. Her wife cannot work and is physically disabled. “If you’ve got the moratorium in place, it allows you the time to get the landlord paid.”
If Jordan and her family, which includes her wife, two children and two grand kids are forced to vacate their rented home, Jordan said that she do not know what else to do and where they will go. She said that it would be very hard for her and family to find another home to rent with an eviction on her record. She has lived in that same property for almost nine years.
Jordan further said that they will be rendered homeless if the eviction ban will be lifted and her landlord pushes through with the eviction. She fears that once the moratorium is lifted she and her family will be left in the open with no place to land.
Who will be put at greater risk?
The eviction rates will most be likely higher in some states as compared to others. In Florida and South Carolina for example, about 1 in every 4 renters are behind their housing payments, while in Maine and Kentucky the rate is 6%, basing on the reports provided by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP).
Alicia Mazzara said that are several reasons why such disparities happen.
“Some states already faced greater housing affordability problems before the pandemic,” Mazzara who is one of CBPPs senior research analysts on the housing policy team said.
“Another likely factor would be the state’s economy – for example, we know that the pandemic has caused job losses to be very concentrated in the restaurant and hospitality sector,” she added. “Jobs most affected by the pandemic may make up a larger share of some state economies than others.”
Mazzara further said that the current global health crisis has exacerbated racial inequities.
In the country, black renters are four times more likely to be behind their rents as compared to white tenants.
Households who belong to the lower income strata are also likely to be problematic with their rents.
Pollock reported that people who were already living paycheck-to-paycheck before the covid19 pandemic are more likely to be more vulnerable.
Also included in this problem are older Americans who are seen as another vulnerable group. Based on a report, about 100,000 people aged 65 years old and above are expected to be pushed out of their rented homes within the next couple of months. About 450,000 renters between the ages of 55 and 64 are also expected to be evicted once the eviction ban is lifted.