Millions of Americans Could Soon Become Homeless as Protections Expire

From realtor.com

By Clare Trapasso | Jul 28, 2020

Millions of renters could soon lose the roof over their heads in the midst of a deadly pandemic, now that the clock has run out on a federal rule shielding them.

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act moratorium on evictions, which protected about 1 in 4 renters, expired last week, prompting fears that a tsunami of evictions may not be far behind. Landlords had previously been prohibited from evicting tenants from homes with federally backed mortgages.

The prospect of back rent coming due is happening against a backdrop of an economy battered by new rounds of business closures, as coronavirus cases pile up throughout the country resulting in the highest unemployment since the Great Depression. It’s also occurring in tandem with local eviction bans and the extra $600 a week in unemployment benefits running out. (Senate Republicans on Monday appeared to favor extending the eviction ban, but it’s unclear if that will make it into the final version of the bill.)

“We’re talking about millions of households who are in this deep, deep hole, who are therefore at increased risk of evictions,” says Aaron Shroyer, a policy associate at the Urban Institute, a nonpartisan research group based in Washington, DC. “This extra $600 has been a lifeline. Without that, renters who have lost their jobs could be staring down the beginnings of mass evictions.”

Even before the pandemic, many tenants were struggling to get by as home and rental prices have soared in recent years. About 1 million renters were considered severely rent burdened, where they paid at least half of their income—or more—on housing. That doesn’t leave much left over for other essentials, such as food, transportation, or medications, let alone emergencies.

(Renters typically earn less than homeowners. They brought in a median $40,500 in 2018—almost half of the $78,000 for homeowner households, according to 2018 U.S. Census Bureau data.)

At the height of the coronavirus crisis, about 8.9 million renter households had at least one person out of work, according to the Urban Institute. That’s fallen to 6 million households in June.

Unsurprisingly, this led to about 1 in 3 renters not making a full rent payment in July, according to a recent report from Apartment List, a rental website. About 19% made no payment, while 13% made only partial payment.

Without additional assistance, such as the extra $600 a week in unemployment payments, it could become even harder for many renters to muster up the money to pay their landlords. Congress is still working on a new coronavirus stimulus plan, but President Donald Trump has supported replacing the $600 boost with unemployment benefits totaling 70% of a worker’s former wages.

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