The crippling economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic could force a wave of evictions across the United States as a federal ban and mosaic of state moratoriums quickly expire, fair housing advocates and legal experts warned.
The Coronavirus Economic Aid, Relief and Security Act, or CARES, which Congress passed in March, provided a temporary moratorium on evictions, but it was for a fraction of the nation’s tenants and some homeowners, who were enforced those in federally subsidized housing or federally backed mortgage housing. That’s about to expire within the next month
This has left courts and local governments in many places to create a mosaic of policies and an ever-changing orientation to evictions, creating further uncertainty and confusion amid the coronavirus pandemic.
At the height of the pandemic, 42 states and the District of Columbia had state eviction moratoriums in place, covering millions of tenants, but currently, just over a dozen states have some form of eviction protection, Emily Benfer, a law professor at Wake Forest University, said.
“So now, less than half of the country is covered by an eviction moratorium that is not federal in nature,” he said. “And as unemployment insurance expires in late July, along with most of the remaining eviction moratoriums, we can expect to see a serious eviction crisis in the United States.”
She added: “And if they rise up before federal financial support is in place, the United States will fall into a major eviction crisis that will have negative consequences for the entire society, because when rent is not paid, mortgages and Property taxes go unpaid, so states, cities, school districts, homeowners, banks, the housing market, entire communities suffer as a result. “
Lawmakers on Capitol Hill disagree on legislation to ease what experts fear is a widespread housing crisis amid historic unemployment and a rising death toll in the United States from COVID-19.
The Democrat-controlled House passed a $ 3 billion aid law in May, called the HEROES Act, but it hit a snag in the Republican-controlled Senate. Another bill sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, who recently passed the House, is expected to have a similar fate. That bill specifically targets housing by extending the eviction moratorium established by the CARES Act until March 2021, placing $ 100 billion in the coffers of COVID-19 rental assistance programs and creating a relief fund for $ 75 billion for homeowners.
President Donald Trump has also signaled that he wants to see a “generous” second round of aid payments to Americans, but nothing has materialized.
“There is increasing anguish,” said Bob Pinnegar, CEO of the National Apartment Association, which represents about 81,000 homeowners, developers and other professionals in the apartment industry. “If we get past July, those stimulus dollars will be gone and what we are hearing is that we will not get any real moves from Congress until they hit eleventh hour, so it is still time for the crystal ball.”
Pinnegar recently told NBC News that the group’s members were not widely affected by the nationwide rental strike in May, but its members are concerned about the future. More protections are needed, she said, particularly for smaller homeowners.
Paula Cino, vice president of the National Multi-Family Housing Council, which also represents the apartment industry, said that despite several moratoriums expiring, protections and financial assistance are still available through the CARES Act. However, she added, her organization recognizes the need for a permanent solution by lawmakers.
“We support a temporary eviction moratorium to overcome immediate uncertainty: they were only appropriate as a short-term option,” he said. “Now that we are in a longer-term position, we need to look for longer-term solutions.”
George Gardner III, a lawyer at Legal Services NYC, a nonprofit organization that provides legal assistance to low-income New Yorkers, called it a “preventable crisis” that needs more clarity from lawmakers and judges.
Gardner said that, based on his experience in the New York City housing courts, he has seen judges rush to work through eviction delays, language barriers and confusion over housing protections related to the pandemic in law.
Regarding public health concerns in court, which often hear cases from members of the Black and Latinx community, he said: “People are trying to save their homes in the midst of a pandemic and people will go to court in panic”.
“It is really a heartbreaking situation as a practitioner,” he added. “It is truly unfathomable that we subject already marginalized low-income groups to even greater uncertainty.”
With declining federal support, some states and cities have taken the lead in creating rental assistance programs and other measures to provide relief to struggling tenants and landlords.
In Los Angeles, the city council approved a $ 100 million rental assistance program in June, which is expected to award 50,000 homes up to $ 2,000 for two months rent paid directly to homeowners.
In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, won a legal challenge against a group of landlords who were fighting his eviction moratorium, which lasted until the end of August. The New York Legislature also codified the order into a bill called the Tenant Safe Harbor Act, which provides greater eviction protections to tenants facing financial difficulties from COVID-19.
In Louisiana, however, tenants face the possibility of becoming homeless.
Cashauna Hill, executive director of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, a non-profit civil rights organization, said the state could be an eviction point.
Approximately 31 percent of tenants and homeowners in Louisiana defaulted on their rent or mortgage payment last month or fear they won’t be able to pay it next month compared to 25 percent nationwide, according to a survey by the Office from the Census.
“Even in ‘good economic times, we have failed as a state to provide any kind of protection,” he said. “And unfortunately, we have not stepped forward during the COVID-19 pandemic to provide any protection for tenants. And what we are seeing is that tenants are really looking over a cliff.”
Hill said local judges have been working with residents since the eviction moratorium expired in June. However, she emphasized the need for federal financial intervention and protection, particularly for the state’s many low-income and minority residents.
“We know that many people, staying home as a result of the pandemic, lost jobs and lost income, which, of course, seriously affected their ability to pay rent,” he said. “And so what we are really left with right now, as Congress has not stepped forward as our governor has not yet provided a plan for any kind of rental assistance, is grappling with the fact that we are going to forcing homeless people to simply do what they had to do to stay safe and protect everyone. “
