(UnitedReader.com) – At the beginning of the pandemic, many people feared eviction as they quickly fell behind on rent and mortgage payments. The Trump administration quickly drafted a bill halting all evictions to keep people from being forced onto the street. Lawmakers renewed the ban once, but the federal moratorium finally ended on July 31, and evictions are expected to surge as a result.
The US House of Representatives voted to extend the ban for a few months, but the attempt failed, and now millions of people face the prospect of losing their homes. The unsuccessful attempt to extend the moratorium has left people facing not only a health crisis but possible eviction as well, according to a senior research analyst at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Alicia Mazzara.
As of July 5, about 3.6 million people have stated that they face eviction in the coming months, as reported by the US Census Bureau.
Getting Ready
Before the pandemic, roughly 3.7 million US residents faced eviction annually, which is equivalent to about seven people per minute. Now, law advocates, enforcement agencies, and the courts are preparing for a return to those numbers. The eviction filings have already begun to pour in for several individuals.
Vernon Betts, Sheriff of the city of St. Louis, has orders for 126 evictions he is currently sitting on until August 9, when his deputies plan to carry out 30 evictions per day. Betts plans to increase his staffing in anticipation of receiving hundreds more eviction filings to flood in soon. The sheriff plans to triple his office’s current level of two-person teams, citing the need to get the first round evictions out of the way immediately and prepare for the ensuing onslaught.
Biden’s Response
President Biden’s administration has stated it will allow the federal moratorium to end, citing that it can’t do anything because the Supreme Court has indicated it would only extend the ban for a month.
Biden’s team hoped that the money allocated by Congress in March and December for rental assistance would be enough to keep people out of eviction trouble. However, of the nearly $47 billion dollars sent out, only about $3 billion has actually gone to people who need it.
Why didn’t the administration extend the moratorium for the month allowed by the Supreme Court? It would have given everyone more time to find a better solution to this eviction crisis.
Fortunately, on August 3, the CDC announced it would extend the eviction moratorium until October 2, a move that should protect about 90% of the people currently facing eviction in the wake of the weekend lapse in protection.
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