With July rents due, renters brace for evictions
With July rents due, renters brace for evictions
Rent for many people is due on Wednesday, July 1, and housing rights groups across the country say they are bracing for a wave of eviction complaints in July.
Texas, New York and Virginia are among states where moratoriums on eviction, put in place due to the pandemic, have expired. But millions of Americans are still out of work.
For some tenants, it’s not just July rent that’s due. It’s now several months’ worth.
“We are extremely worried, because all of the indicators point to there being massive evictions across the country,” said Lisa Rice, CEO of the National Fair Housing Alliance. “And we do not have the infrastructure to deal with that.”
According to the Urban Institute, nearly 20% of people who rent did not pay in June. Rice said evictions may disproportionately affect Black and Latino households, who are about twice as likely to be renters as whites.
Richard St. Paul, with the New York City Small Homeowners Association that represents landlords, said they need help too. Mortgage payments are due.
“Most of our members have relationships with the tenants. What our members want is some type of assistance, that will help the tenants,” St. Paul said.
That’s also what many renters rights organizations are saying: that government needs to step in, and help both renters and landlords stay afloat.
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