As the United States approaches what housing experts have considered a housing crisis, the House of Representatives on Monday passed a bill that would provide emergency financial assistance to tenants and homeowners to keep people housed for the coronavirus pandemic.
The Emergency Housing Protection and Aid Act of 2020, sponsored by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Allocates $ 100 billion to emergency rental assistance programs, creates a $ 75 thousand relief fund million for homeowners and extends the established eviction and foreclosure moratorium. by the CARES Law until March 2021. Now it is with the Senate, where it is not expected to happen.
About 30% of tenants have little or no confidence that they will be able to make their next home payment, according to the latest US Census Bureau Home Pulse Survey. To rectify that, National Low housing experts Income Housing Coalition and elsewhere have called for emergency rental assistance and rent cancellation during the pandemic.
“The United States was facing an affordable housing crisis before this pandemic,” Waters said during his statement on the floor. “With so many families struggling as a result of the pandemic, we are now on the precipice of an eviction and homelessness crisis that we have never seen in our lives.”
The legislation is intended to prevent a confluence of factors from creating an upcoming “apocalypse” of housing. Eviction bans across the country are expiring and housing courts are reopening as financial aid that keeps many households afloat during the coronavirus is running out.
Taken together, tenants at risk of being evicted, who are disproportionately women and people of color, could find themselves homeless in the midst of an increasingly severe public health crisis.
Republicans voted against the housing relief law. Representative Bill Huizenga (Republican of Michigan) called the bill a “wish list of Democratic policy goals.”
“The fact is that in too many large, high-cost metro areas, local decisions and regulations have made the cost of housing in those areas too high for many working families,” said Huizenga. “We should not reward these high-cost cities for decades of mistakes made by themselves with more taxpayer dollars.”
The legislation was derived from the HEROES Act, a stimulus bill passed by the House in May. That bill, which includes other financial aid provisions, such as a second stimulus check and an extension of improved unemployment benefits, has so far stalled in the Senate.
Eviction bill also introduced
Democrats in the Senate also introduced legislation Monday to help prevent the next wave of evictions and foreclosures across the country. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) Introduced a bill that would ensure that those who cannot pay are not evicted amid a pandemic.
The Tenant Protection Eviction Law and Fees extends the federal eviction moratorium established by the CARES Act July 25, 2020 to March 27, 2021, and expands it to “cover substantially all tenants,” according to a press release. It also prohibits fees and fines for non-payment of rent during that time. After the moratorium ends, landlords must notify tenants 30 days before eviction.
Representatives Jesús García (D-Ill.) And Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) Presented a similar bill in the House of Representatives.
The CARES Act currently prohibits evictions in federally-funded housing, which covers about a quarter of tenants. Other than that, eviction bans vary by state and even city, creating a hodgepodge of policies across the country. Warren’s bill would create a single moratorium across the country that applies to all tenants.
“Tenants who have lost their jobs or reduced their incomes should not be afraid of losing their homes in the midst of a pandemic,” Warren said in a statement. “Housing is a human right and an absolute necessity to keep families safe during this crisis, and Congress must step in now to help keep people in their homes.”
This bill does not cancel rent, as requested by some activists, which means that tenants still owe the money when the eviction moratorium is lifted, and can then be evicted for non-payment.
Separately, the Federal Housing Finance Agency announced Monday that multi-family homeowners with Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac mortgages will be able to extend leniency agreements for up to three months. During the leniency, landlords cannot evict tenants who cannot pay rent.
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