HIT supports continuing eviction moratorium
Submitted by Clayton Genth - Executive Director, HIT Foundation
On Monday, Jan. 11, HIT Foundation staff Laura Coffey, Jennifer Weathington, Emily Rohwer and Clayton Genth, along with HIT Foundation board members Mary Bullen, Kathy Smallwood and Jeff Allen attended a national call with Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown. This call was hosted by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a Washington D.C. based affordable housing advocacy organization.
The primary reason for the call was to advocate for the continuance of the existing eviction moratorium which is set to expire Jan. 31 if action is not taken and to advocate for Emergency Rental Assistance programs. Though the CDC-issued eviction moratorium was extended through the end of January by the recent coronavirus relief package, on Feb. 1, tens of millions of low-income renters across the country will be at risk of losing their homes and, with them, their ability to keep themselves and the
Great Start to 2021
Housing advocates have had a lot to celebrate. President Biden’s Executive Order extended the national eviction moratorium through March and a longer extension with increased tenant protections is on the horizon. In addition, flawed rent relief procedures issued by the Trump Administration to access the $25 billion already allocated were tossed and will soon be replaced. Biden ended his first week raising the FEMA reimbursement rate for housing the unhoused in hotels from 75% to 100% that’s a game changer for cities struggling to address homelessness.
Last week also saw the National Low Income Housing Coalition and over 2000 groups ramp up a national drive for significantly increased federal housing funding. I’ve followed national housing politics since Jimmy Carter’s presidency; this is the first time I recall “affordable housing” being highlighted by top officials on the first day of a new presidency.
About 18% of renters, or roughly 10 million people, in the U.S. are behind on their monthly payments as of early January, according to an Urban Institute analysis.
Researchers Jim Parrott, a fellow at the Urban Institute, and Mark Zandi, the chief economist of Moody’s Analytics, calculated that 18% of U.S. renters were behind on payments and warned that if lawmakers didn’t act fast, there could be a major eviction crisis. The average delinquent renter is four months behind on payments and owes $5,600, the researchers estimated using Bureau of Labor Statistics figures.
“The pandemic has hit the nation’s most vulnerable communities hard,” Parrott and Zandi wrote in the report released Monday. “Not only have they been more likely to get sick, but they have been more likely to lose their income and savings, and now they are more likely to be evicted. Any one of these challenges should insult the conscience of the nation; all three should be unacceptable.”
Biden Administration needs to act to prevent more rent-relief delays
By: Alicia Nieves
and last updated 2021-01-21 17:38:52-05
While Congress set aside $25 billion for rent relief in the latest stimulus package, it still has not been distributed to most states. That will likely happen in the next few days. However, some are warning that delays, seen with some state-enacted and funded rent relief programs, could become more widespread. I applied for rent relief in the summer of 2020, I didnât hear back for six months,â said a Boston woman who worked as a videographer and photographer before the pandemic.