Congress has allocated a total of more than $45 billion in rental assistance after the coronavirus pandemic cost millions of Americans their jobs and left as many as 1 in 5 renters unable to keep up with their housing payments, including close to a third of African American renters.
However, the rollout of the relief funds isn t coming fast enough for many, and evictions continue despite a national ban on the proceedings.
So far, states and their local programs are in the process of distributing $16 billion of the $25 billion in rental assistance passed in December, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
URBANA, Ill. – Economic mobility in communities is tied to affordable housing. The lack of affordable housing costs nearly $2 trillion in lost wages and productivity and creates instability where children fail to thrive, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition.
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President Joe Biden’s recently announced infrastructure plan calls for the federal government to invest $40 billion in repairing America’s public housing stock, a move that could open a new chapter in the nation’s fraught relationship with public housing.
Tenant rights groups say the Department of Justice (DOJ) has yet to file a single criminal charge for violations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium, which carries penalties of up to $200,000 and a year in jail.
“I think it would be helpful if they prosecuted landlords who are violating the law,” said Isaac Sturgill, an attorney at Legal Aid of North Carolina. “From my knowledge, DOJ hasn’t been enforcing the order. It does make it look more like a paper tiger.”
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Enacted in September as a public health measure, the CDC order aims to mitigate the spread of coronavirus by helping financially distressed tenants remain in their homes, instead of forcing them into homeless shelters or other crowded living spaces.