Millions of Renters Could Face Eviction in January
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Here's your money briefing for Monday, December 14th. I'm J.R. Whalen for The Wall Street Journal. Millions of U.S. renters facing financial hardship are at risk of being evicted in January. That's when federal protections put in place during the pandemic are set to expire.
If there's no extension of the moratorium, many housing attorneys and other experts that are looking at this think that January could be the worst month for evictions ever.
Coming up, our housing reporter Will Parker will update us on efforts to extend the moratorium and discuss why some tenants are facing a legal minefield even during the protection period. That's after the break.
A federal measure to protect renters impacted by the pandemic from being evicted expires at the end of the month.
What is the eviction moratorium and why did the CDC issue it?
But with the economic recovery cooling, many are still struggling and fear they could be kicked out of their homes come the new year. Our housing reporter, Will Parker, has been following this, and he's here with details. Will, thanks for joining us.
Thanks for having me.
So this protection for renters actually comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. What protections did it put in place, and why the CDC?
I think the administration was looking for a way to use some sort of federal authority outside of congressional action to do something about what was expected to be a huge wave of evictions, potentially millions of people, due to the economic distress from COVID and its effect on low-income renters having difficulty to pay rent. The CDC was an option because it has powers to make decisions that protect the public health from the virus and the way that the moratorium was written was that we needed to have some sort of protection some sort of plan implemented in the housing space in order to help prevent spread of the disease so the idea was that if we if we limit the number of evictions we limit the number of people who are out on the streets without shelter and can therefore limit disease spread
If that protection expires at the end of the month, how many renters will be affected?
If there's no extension of the moratorium, and because we know that there have been many cases filed against tenants throughout the fall, and that we know that there are many landlords who are not collecting rent in places all over the country and have not been able to use an eviction in order to take back their apartment or house, Because of those things, many housing attorneys and other experts that are looking at this think that January could be the worst month for evictions ever, that there would never have been another time where there'd be such a backlog of evictions with this many people not paying their rent.
Okay, but a lot of these people who are renting don't have a job. The money from the stimulus check they got in the spring was used up pretty quickly. If the moratorium expires on January 1st, what kind of legal protection will tenants have?
It will depend very precisely on what town and what county and which state in this country that you live in, whether you'll have any protections. So some states will still have some sort of eviction moratorium on the books, like in California, but others won't have any other local law in place. And in many places, evictions can happen very fast.
How many renters could be affected if the moratorium expires in January?
You know, you miss a month of rent, a landlord files, you may only have five days to answer it, or, you know, only a couple weeks before you really have to leave the property that you're renting. So in much of the country, the concern is that this is going to happen really fast, that there's going to be such a large backlog of non-payment and landlords that are frustrated with not being able to collect and also frustrated with not being able to get their property back while no rent is coming in that are all of a sudden going to be flooding the courts at the same time.
What about up until now? How have courts been handling these disputes so far?
It has been a huge problem for both tenants and landlords, as well as their attorneys, to figure out exactly what they can and can't do.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:05–0:54
2
What is the eviction moratorium and why did the CDC issue it?
0:54–3:16
3
How many renters could be affected if the moratorium expires in January?
3:16–7:17
4
What legal protections will tenants have after the federal moratorium ends?
7:17–8:17
Speakers
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