‘Last week tonight’ explains how the pandemic will reinforce evictions – Deadline

As the week saw the United States setting records for coronavirus cases with states like Texas and Flordia seeing the worst peaks, Mike Pence claims the country has slowed expansion and has smoothed out the curve to which John Oliver responded: ” That is such an open and stupid lie. “

With the increase in cases, Last week tonight with John Oliver He addressed another crisis that the country is about to face as a result of the pandemic: evictions.

Since a third of households in the country are tenants and tenants tend to have lower incomes than owners, the pandemic will cause evictions for the foreseeable future. Stimulus controls, expanded unemployment insurance, and state and federal moratoriums on evictions have helped navigate the storm, but those resources are not enough. “Those mechanisms are now beginning to run out or expire, and if we do nothing, experts predict dire results with millions of people becoming vulnerable,” said Oliver, adding that the coronavirus crisis may turn into a homeless crisis.

As these moratoriums begin to lift, some courts have been conducting eviction cases with webcams in separate rooms in the courtroom, by phone, or even zoomed in.

“What are you doing?!” Oliver exclaimed. “It might be worth thinking twice before participating. If you are driving people out of their homes through Zoom, a platform you are only using because it is not safe for people to leave their homes.”

He added: “The fact is that we are about to do everything we can to kick people out of their homes at the worst possible time.”

Even before the pandemic, evictions have been damaging with long-term effects. They have been linked to increased residential instability, poor housing, declining neighborhood quality, and job losses. Oliver also notes that, on an individual level, evictions would cause families to lose their possessions and make it difficult for them to obtain new homes.

According to the statistics Oliver shared, approximately one million homes have been evicted each year for the past decade and this has disproportionately impacted people of color. Black households are twice as likely to be evicted as white households. To add to that, women of color, particularly black women, are especially vulnerable. Lack of affordable housing has a systemic problem long before the pandemic occurred and, like everything else, they got even worse.

In a March clip, Larry Kudlow, whom Oliver refers to as a “rotting melon,” Kudlow unpacks the Trump administration’s plan when it comes to renting. He said there is a freeze on the rent payment and that there will be no evictions during this period. Although it sounds like good news, Oliver said the policy he talks about stops evictions, not rent. For those who cannot pay, bills will accumulate and the policy only applies to certain properties.

“The federal eviction moratorium left many people unprotected, and while several dozen states have established their own moratoriums, many of those protections have already expired, leaving tenants in 23 states without state-level protection against eviction,” he explains. Oliver.

Some may rely on the friendliness of homeowners who have worked with tenants, including Mario Salerno, a New York homeowner who gave up renting his 200 tenants in July. However, some are not so kind. A tenant in Arizona received threatening emails from her landlord in Canada, while Michael Bowman in Mecklenburg County in North Carolina is, like many landlords and property managers, waiting to evict tenants at the first available opportunity.

In a news clip, Bowman admitted that he is not someone to let tenants pass without paying rent. He continues with the evictions despite the fact that court hearings are on hold. He talked about how it is “just a business” to throw a single mother and her three children onto the street.

Oliver said: “Many of those moratoriums prevent the physical act of eviction, but they do not stop the legal process that leads to it.”

Many property owners and managers have been able to file evictions in court all this time. As a result, cases have accumulated as soon as moratoriums are lifted, which is happening, evictions will come quickly.

Certain companies are turning tenants around basically saying they should have “saved for a rainy day” to avoid eviction, while some tenants are demanding rent strikes because they are accumulating debt and will not be able to pay the rent owed.

Oliver points out that rent strikes are risky because he may end up being evicted for non-payment and, as mentioned, it will be difficult to obtain a home in the future. However, you can see that the tenants are pushing because they are desperate.

“The strikes have been an effective way to draw attention to how dire things are right now and, in the long term, we desperately need a plan to solve our affordable housing crisis, in the short term, we just found a way to keep to the people in their homes, “he said.

Efforts have been made to help weather the storm, but have not provided robust solutions. Houston, Texas established a $ 15 million tenant relief fund, but it disappeared in 90 minutes. The city knew this was going to be a problem and encouraged citizens to reach out to their representatives in Congress to advocate for increased funding, but the city can only do so much without federal intervention.

Meanwhile, Ithaca, New York, is trying to cancel the rent, asking the state for funds for homeowners who need help. It requires the state and federal government to act, but as Oliver said, “they are standing up” when it comes to solutions during the pandemic.

The House passed the Heroes Act that offers $ 1 billion in rental assistance to the most vulnerable, but the law has stalled in the Senate. “The sad truth is, we’ve waited too long here already,” Oliver said. “There is absolutely no excuse not to attack this problem with real urgency because while we wait for Congress to act, people face the consequences.”

He continues: “The worst thing we can do right now is nothing. Every day that we do not act is a day that exacerbates a future crisis for millions of vulnerable tenants and their communities. We need to stop this before it gets worse. “