Senate Republicans released today a coronavirus relief package that would do next to nothing to prevent millions of people in America from being evicted from their homes during a pandemic. Each day of Senate inaction puts more low-income renters at immediate risk of losing their homes.
As Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) said on today’s national call, we must continue to reach out to our members of Congress, especially our Republican legislators, and ensure that they understand what is at stake for millions of families if we do not take this looming eviction crisis seriously.
The time to act is now. Make your voices heard at this critical moment by contacting your members of Congress by phone, sending them an email, or tagging them on social media with the hashtag #RentReliefNow! Use our Virtual Lobby Day Toolkit to urge Congress to immediately enact the essential housing protections and provisions that the House passed over two months ago.
Read NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel’s statement on the Senate Republicans’ Coronavirus Relief Package here.
Additional updates below.
Coronavirus Update, Monday, July 27, 2020
Please note that NLIHC will be hosting weekly national calls on COVID-19 and housing/homelessness every Monday afternoon. The call is this coming Monday, August 3, at 2:30pm to 4:00pm ET. Register for the call here: https://tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Join resident leaders and NLIHC staff for the next Tenant Talk Live webinar on Monday, August 3, at 6pm ET. The webinar will discuss how to leverage resident management councils, the impacts of the pandemic, and how you can advocate for needed resources and other protections for people experiencing homelessness and low-income renters in your community. Register here: https://bit.ly/3dNekGP
NLIHC is maintaining a COVID-19/Housing and Homelessness News and Resource page here.
Summary of National Call
Thank you to everyone who joined today’s national call on coronavirus, housing, and homelessness! Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) spoke about the need for critical housing and homelessness resources in the next relief package and the importance of sharing stories with our members of Congress that demonstrate the housing needs of our communities. Thank you, Senator Murray, for your commitment to ensuring that essential housing and homelessness components of the House-passed “HEROES Act” and “Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020” are included in the next coronavirus relief package. Janet Golrick, acting deputy assistant secretary for grant programs at HUD, and Jessie Handforth Kome, director of the Office of Block Grant Assistance at HUD, spoke about CDBG-CV and upcoming guidance from HUD. Eric Burmeister of the Polk County Housing Trust Fund shared state and local efforts to keep Iowans housed during the pandemic, and Howard Belodoff of Idaho Legal Aid Services discussed how the organization is helping tenants in Idaho stay in their homes when having to navigate eviction court. NLIHC’s Sarah Saadian, Joey Lindstrom, and Lisa Marlow discussed Capitol Hill updates, needed advocacy actions, and communications tools and tactics.
Resources discussed on today’s call:
Janet Golrick, Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Grant Programs, HUD; Jessie Handforth Kome, Director of the Office of Block Grant Assistance, HUD
FEMA announced on July 26 that federal disaster assistance has been made available to Texas to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Hanna.
FEMA announced on July 25 that federal disaster assistance has been made available to Hawaii to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the areas affected by Hurricane Douglas.
Advocacy
The NLIHC-led Disaster Housing Recovery Coalition will continue to push for a broad array of resources and protections, including emergency rental assistance and eviction prevention assistance, a national moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, and emergency funds for homelessness service providers, housing authorities, and housing providers, among other recommendations. For more information, see DHRC’s full list of recommendations.
The Center for American Progress released a report examining how the premature lifting of pandemic restrictions strains emergency housing and homelessness efforts and will exacerbate evictions, foreclosures, and the country’s decades-old housing and homelessness crises.
The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities released a report on the severe consequences the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic fallout are having on those with the fewest resources. Policymakers must include comprehensive housing assistance in the next relief package, prioritizing aid for people with the most severe housing needs.
Reporting
Politico reported on how cities across the country are bracing for a surge of evictions as the federal eviction moratorium expired on July 24 at midnight. “If the federal ban is not extended, if the state and local eviction moratoriums that are scheduled to expire in the coming weeks do, and if no emergency rental assistance is provided, then from the end of August through fall, millions of Americans will be evicted from their homes,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel.
Marketplace examined the long-term, harmful outcomes of eviction filings. “There’s this spiraling down into poverty that can happen from just one eviction filing,” said Diane Yentel.
Diane Yentel spoke to CBS News about the expected wave of evictions in the coming months. About 13 million people could face eviction as a result of the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium.
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on July 26 unexpectedly told CNN’s Jake Tapper that the Trump administration will extend the federal eviction moratorium that expired on July 24. Time also reported on Kudlow’s announcement that the administration would extend the moratorium.
The coronavirus pandemic is exacerbating inequities across the country, especially in housing. According to the Washington Post, the affluent are taking advantage of the least expensive mortgage rates in history to buy bigger homes, while renters are facing significant job losses and growing threats of eviction.
Forbes reported that after the federal eviction moratorium expired on July 24, mass evictions are set to begin, and communities of color will be most impacted. Senate Republicans are expected to unveil their proposal for the next COVID-19 relief package, and if eviction and housing protections are not included, a surge of evictions and rise in homelessness will shatter communities across the country.
An op-ed in the Hill made a case for why the Senate and the president must immediately enact the rental assistance and nationwide eviction moratorium included in the House-passed HEROES Act.
24/7 Wall St. used U.S. Census Survey data to track which areas in the country are most struggling to pay rent or mortgage during the coronavirus pandemic. The analysis found that in some parts of the country, less than 15% of adults are missing, or will likely soon miss, a rent or mortgage payment. In other parts of the country, more than one-third of adults cannot afford their housing payments.
USA Today discussed 24/7 Wall St.’s report on which states have the largest share of the population struggling to pay rent or mortgage, and highlighted the finding that many of the states where the largest portions of adults cannot afford to make housing payments are also some of the poorest states.
CBS News reported on the millions of Americans that are facing homelessness after the federal eviction moratorium expired on July 24 at midnight.
State and Local News
A list of state and local emergency rental assistance programs is available here from NLIHC.
Colorado
The Denver Post spoke with Colorado tenants facing eviction as federal unemployment benefits ended, unemployment is at near-record levels, and Governor Jared Polis let the state eviction moratorium lapse.
Iowa
The Des Moines Register reported that as COVID-19 cases rise, so does the number of Iowans facing eviction - sometimes in violation of federal eviction protections. According to Iowa Legal Aid, 22 eviction judgments issued in Polk County small claims court from July 13-17 included filings that violated either the CARES Act or Iowa’s statewide eviction moratorium.
Louisiana
New Orleans' COVID-19 Rental Assistance Program began accepting applications on July 27. Funding is limited and will only be available for members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention designated vulnerable populations.
Maryland
Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh asked the state’s chief judges to extend the statewide eviction moratorium, which expired on July 25, until January 31. “Many Marylanders were struggling to pay housing and other expenses before the COVID-19 crisis, and the pandemic has exacerbated these difficulties exponentially,” wrote Attorney General Frosh.
According to recent estimates from Stout, approximately 292,000 Maryland households are unable to pay rent and at risk of eviction. This could translate into about 192,000 eviction filings into Maryland courts over the next four months.
The Gaithersburg City Council voted on July 20 to cap residential rent increases at no more than 2.6% during the pandemic and for 90 days after the state of emergency ends.
New York
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio launched the Landlord-Tenant Mediation Project on July 21 to help workers impacted by the pandemic avoid eviction. The city will partner with community dispute resolution centers to offer free case intake and mediation sessions between landlords and tenants.
Since Governor Andrew Cuomo’s initial eviction moratorium expired on June 20, 719 eviction petitions have been filed. This is just a fraction of the petitions the court would typically receive in a five-week period in previous years.
North Carolina
Physical evictions and eviction hearings resumed last week in Mecklenburg County, with magistrates working their way through 600 eviction cases in just one week. Federal and local COVID-19 rent relief programs have helped the county stave off evictions in about half of the eviction cases.
Rhode Island
Rhode Island launched its Safe Harbor Housing Program, an eviction diversion initiative designed to help landlords and tenants resolve disputes over late or unpaid rent without having to go through the traditional court process.
Texas
Hurricane Hanna weakened to a tropical depression after making landfall as a hurricane along the Texas Gulf Coast on Saturday evening. It brought heavy rains and threats of flooding to parts of Texas already reeling from COVID-19. “Any hurricane is an enormous challenge. This challenge is complicated and made even more severe, seeing that it is sweeping through an area that is the most challenged area in the state for COVID-19,” said Governor Greg Abbott.
The Dallas Observer reported that renters in North Texas fear evictions now that the federal eviction moratorium has expired.
Washington, DC
The Brookings Institute released a report examining what it would cost to prevent Washington,
D.C.’s renters from COVID-19 eviction.
Despite warnings from economists and advocates who say that cutting federal coronavirus relief will have harmful, long-lasting impacts on vulnerable residents, Senate Republicans are preparing to release a fifth bill with reduced unemployment benefits and limited or no additional state aid. More than 600,000 laid-off workers in D.C., Maryland, and Virginia have been relying on federal unemployment benefits that will expire, and courts in the D.C. region are beginning to hear eviction cases.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.
DISASTER HOUSING RECOVERY COALITION, C/O NATIONAL LOW INCOME HOUSING COALITION
1000 Vermont Avenue, NW | Suite 500 | Washington, DC 20005 | 202-662-1530 | www.nlihc.org
