Without significant and sustained congressional action, 30 to 40 million renters are at risk of being evicted by the end of the year (ShelterForce 2020). So when we heard that President Trump signed an executive order in response to the crisis, all of our ears perked up.
“I’m protecting people from eviction,” Trump said on Saturday, August 8. “You’ve been hearing a lot about eviction, and the Democrats don’t want to do anything having to do with protecting people from eviction.”
But Trump’s order neither bans evictions outright nor provides rental assistance — actions that need to be approved by Congress — and most housing activists say it will do little to stop the tidal wave of evictions that’s coming (NPR 2020).
Diane Yentel, President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, described the order this way:
The president alluded to “stopping evictions,” but the executive order fails to provide any meaningful relief to the millions of renters at risk of losing their homes. President Trump failed even to use his existing authority to reinstate the limited federal eviction moratorium that expired on July 24, which covered 30 percent of renters nationwide. Instead, the executive order merely directs federal agencies to “review all existing authorities and resources” and “make a determination” about whether halting evictions would prevent the spread of coronavirus. The president does not direct any federal or other agency to take any action to actually prevent evictions.
The executive order also provides no new resources to assist renters. Instead, the order directs HUD and the Department of Treasury merely to consider repackaging unspent funding already approved by Congress under the CARES Act (ShelterForce 2020).
“Now you’re in a moment where you still haven’t gone back to work, most government benefits have stopped, and the rent is still due,” says the Aspen Institute’s Zach Neumann.
COVID-19 struck when 20.8 million renter households (47.5% of all renter households) were already housing cost-burdened, according to 2018 numbers. Housing cost-burdened is defined as households who pay more than 30% of their income towards rent/mortgage and utilities. When the pandemic began, 10.9 million renter households (25% of all renter households) were spending over 50% of their income on rent and utilities each month. The majority of renter households below the poverty line spent at least half of their income towards rent in 2018, with one in four spending over 70% of their income toward housing costs. Due to chronic underfunding by the federal government, only one in four eligible renters received federal financial assistance. With the loss of four million affordable homes over the last decade, and a shortage of 7 million affordable apartments available to the lowest-income renters, many renters entered the pandemic already facing housing instability and vulnerable to eviction (Aspen Institute 2020).
According to a survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in July, an estimated 34% of renters nationwide had little to no confidence they could pay August rent (City Lab 2020).
“A moratorium alone is a temporary and unfunded mandate that hurts landlords now at the expense of tenants later,” David W. Dworkin, president and CEO of the nonprofit National Housing Conference, referring to Trump’s Saturday edict.
“I think our next pandemic, if nothing is done, is going to be a homeless pandemic,” said Jamos Mobley, who works for the Legal Aid Society.
We endorse Diane Yentel’s statement: “President Trump and his administration must go back to the negotiating table with Congress to work out a comprehensive deal that includes: a national, uniform moratorium on all evictions for nonpayment of rent; at least $100 billion in emergency rental assistance through the ‘Emergency Rental Assistance and Rental Market Stabilization Act’ and housing vouchers; and $11.5 billion in emergency resources to help prevent and respond to outbreaks among people experiencing homelessness.”
REFERENCES
Trump’s Executive Order on Evictions Likely Won’t Prevent Any Evictions
08/10/2020
Kriston Capps
Trump’s Executive Order On Housing Doesn’t Guarantee An Eviction Moratorium
08/10/2020
Forbes
Kelly Anne Smith
A Homeless Pandemic’ Looms As 30 Million Are At Risk Of Eviction
08/10/2020
NPR
Jim Zarroli
The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis: An Estimated 30–40 Million People in America are at Risk
08/07/2020
Aspen Institute
Emily Benfer
It means nothing’: Trump’s pledge to aid tenants won’t halt evictions 08/11/2020
Politico
Katy O’Donnell
