America is reportedly facing an “eviction crisis,” with thousands booted from their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, and millions more facing a similar fate come the end of the year.
Massive unemployment sparked by health crisis has translated into 10 million fewer jobs than there were in March — and some 19 million people can’t afford their rent, the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates, ABC News reported.
“The United States is facing the greatest eviction crisis we have ever seen in our country’s history,” Emily Benfer, a law professor at Wake Forest University School of Law, told the news outlet.
“Renters are stretched threadbare. They are paying for rent with their food budgets. There’s been an increase in food pantry requests as much as 2,000% in some states.”
Forty-four states implemented eviction moratoriums since March, but 27 lifted them before September, resulting in an estimated 433,700 excess COVID-19 cases and 10,700 excess deaths, ABC News reported, citing a recent study.
Currently, a temporary federal eviction moratorium from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protects renters is in place until Dec. 31.
But there is pushback to the CDC moratorium, and some advocates say Congress will ultimately have to step in.
Caleb Kruckenberg, a lawyer with the New Civil Liberties Alliance, is representing several landlords who’ve sued the government over the CDC order.
“The CDC can’t go in and say, ‘We have picked a winner and a loser and tenants don’t have to pay any more, and landlords have to provide free housing,’” he told ABC News. “The CDC just does not have that authority.”
Kruckenberg says the federal government is overreaching when it locks landlords out of their states’ eviction processes and imposes fines on those that don’t comply.
“We need to follow the rules that the Constitution set, and the CDC doesn’t get to make this very difficult decision about what to do with housing policy,” he told ABC News.
“The CDC is a public health organization. They’re not a housing policy organization. They’re not Congress. That is the structure that the Constitution envisioned and that’s why this lawsuit is so important.”
By January, there will be an estimated $34 billion in back-owed rent, ABC News reported, citing data from the National Council of State Housing Agencies.
“The likelihood of tenants being able to pay that back to a property owner without federal rent relief is very unlikely … and this is one of the reasons why we need relief from Congress as quickly as possible,” Benfer told the news outlet.
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