With the increase in COVID-19 infections in various parts of the United States, many states are reversing their reopens and sending residents home. But those houses are only safe harbors if people can hold on to them. In the main segment of Sunday Last week tonightJohn Oliver explained why the rent crisis and the COVID-19 crisis could worsen further, and why current measures to prevent this have not been sufficient.
As Oliver points out, although evictions have been suspended, that measure only covers the physical removal of tenants from their homes. The federal moratorium on evictions, which only applies to approximately 25 percent of cases, allows the legal process of eviction procedures to proceed normally. The fact that such procedures are sometimes carried out at Zoom because it is not considered safe for people to leave their homes only underlines the possible consequences of people being thrown onto the streets en masse. The state and federal protections in place at the start of the pandemic are beginning to expire, and without them, Oliver warns, the coronavirus crisis could evolve into a new and terrible phase. (Warning: illustrate this point with a graphic of the Pokémon Mr. Mime crowned with the head of Kevin Spacey).
At the moment, 23 states have no state-level protection against eviction, and while some homeowners have been generous and understanding, others have been … it’s not that. The latter may tell tenants that they should have saved for a rainy day, but as a tenant responds, why isn’t that the case for landlords too? And in any case, Oliver says, “This is not a rainy day, this is the Great Flood.” In other words, like many of the problems that COVID-19 has highlighted, this is a massive enough problem that needs to be addressed at the federal level, and this is just one more reason why Washington’s lack of leadership has done so much damage.
