Category: Housing News
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Research shows eviction moratoria slow the spread of COVID-19 and save lives
New research shows that eviction moratoria and bans on utility cutoffs greatly slow the spread of COVID-19. These protections for low-income renters have an even larger impact reducing deaths from the coronavirus. If there had been a national, uniform moratorium on evictions and utility cutoffs from the start of the pandemic, millions would not have…
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Research shows millions protected from eviction in 2020, but back rent grows
New research from Princeton’s Eviction Lab shows that protections enacted during the coronavirus pandemic have prevented at least 1.6 million eviction filings nationwide. Although eviction filings are rising going into 2021, eviction rates are still only about half what they were before the pandemic. Over the last decade, the U.S. has seen a growing eviction…
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Biden Executive Order directs HUD to review fair housing laws
An Executive Order by President Joe Biden has directed the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary to examine the fair housing effects of some Trump Administration policies. Acknowledging the many issues of housing discrimination in our country, the January 26 White House Memorandum states: “Accordingly, it is the policy of my Administration that the Federal…
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Emergency Rental Assistance Program Distribution by State
What is Emergency Rental Assistance? The U.S. Treasury Department’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program is distributing $25 billion for renters who are struggling to pay rent and utilities during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program is funded by the stimulus relief bill signed by former President Trump in December, 2020. Where is Emergency Rental Assistance provided? Funding…
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What will President Biden do about affordable housing in his first 100 days?
Joe Biden is now president of the United States, and will have a narrow Democratic majority backing him up in the House and Senate. He faces many challenges and has an ambitious agenda for his first 100 days in office. What does this mean for America’s low-income renters? President Biden has already moved quickly to…
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Eviction Moratorium Extension
President Joe Biden issued an executive order his first day in office, which extends the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) eviction moratorium until March 31, 2021.
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Now that emergency rental assistance has passed, where will it go?
Congress included $25 billion for emergency rental assistance in the latest coronavirus stimulus package; but where is the emergency rental assistance going, and how will it be distributed? The National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) has developed estimates for what each state will receive. The largest states will likely get more than a billion dollars each…
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Biden’s American Rescue Plan
On January 14, 2021, President-Elect Joe Biden released his “American Rescue Plan,” a proposed $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package that would help low-income renters in many ways, such as: Emergency Rental Assistance $30 billion of funds would go to emergency rental assistance programs. $5 billion of this amount is reserved to help struggling renters pay their…
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Trump signs FY21 spending bill and pandemic relief package
CORRECTION: Earlier reports said that persons getting unemployment benefits would miss a week of payment because of Trump’s delay to sign these bills. However, the U.S. Department of Labor said in a December 29 statement to CNBC that it “does not anticipate that eligible claimants will miss a week of benefits.” President Trump signed the…
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Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021 signed
President Trump signed a $900 billion coronavirus relief bill on December 27, 2020, which will give struggling Americans similar financial aid to what was provided in the March, 2020 CARES Act. The following information is what’s known so far about new COVID relief for low-income renters: Unemployment Benefits Unemployment benefits will be increased to an extra…