Treasury: Only 11% of federal rental assistance has been distributed
Lawmakers approved $46.5 billion in rental assistance earlier this year, but only $5.1 billion had been been distributed by states and localities through July.
Lawmakers approved $46.5 billion in rental assistance earlier this year, but only $5.1 billion had been been distributed by states and localities through July.
Most obviously, the eviction moratorium protects the housing security of millions of Americans who lost their incomes during the pandemic through no fault of their own. However, by distorting the incentives for tenants and landlords, the moratorium also creates some unintended and undesirable consequences.
Congress helped mitigate the housing crisis through temporary, emergency actions in the American Rescue Plan Act. But now it’s time for a long-term solution that brings real relief to Hoosiers.
Smaller landlords with fewer than four units, who often don’t have the financing of larger property owners, were hit especially hard by the pandemic, with as many as 58% having tenants behind on rent, according to the National Association of Realtors.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is expected to announce Monday morning that benefit amounts for the program, formerly known as food stamps, will rise an average of 25% above pre-pandemic levels.
U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich has refused landlords’ request to put the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium on hold, though she made clear she thinks it’s illegal.
If other cities had followed Indy’s lead, perhaps the nation would not be in this moratorium limbo, waiting to see if the extension can withstand a court challenge.
Rents are rising, buoyed by strong demand as U.S. home prices push to new highs, leaving many would-be buyers no choice but to rent.
In the window between the end of the previous moratorium on evictions and the issuance of the current ban, 486 eviction cases were filed in Indiana from Aug. 1 through midday Aug. 4, according to data from the Indiana Supreme Court.
Only one day after the Biden administration issued a new policy protecting renters from eviction, a series of real estate and landlord groups is trying to invalidate it.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, President Joe Biden was uncertain whether the new moratorium could withstand lawsuits about its constitutionality.
Congress was unable to pass legislation swiftly to extend the ban, which expired at midnight Saturday, and the Democratic leaders said it was now up to President Joe Biden’s administration to act.
More than 51,000 eviction filings have been made in Indiana during the pandemic, including nearly 16,000 in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, according to Indiana Legal Services.
A House panel convened to consider emergency legislation to extend the ban, which expires Saturday, through Dec. 31. But approving an extension would be a steep climb in the narrowly-split Congress.
Housing advocates, including pro bono attorneys and law students, will provide legal advice and mediation and negotiation services during an expected surge in evictions.
As of July 5, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey.
A federal freeze on most evictions that was enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31. Although no statewide data exists, Indiana housing experts estimated that roughly 13% of tenants—about 106,000 Indiana households—are at risk of eviction.
While prescription painkillers once drove the nation’s overdose epidemic, they were supplanted first by heroin and then by fentanyl, a dangerously powerful opioid, in recent years.
Weeks before an eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expires on July 31, much of the federal aid meant to help tenants and landlords has not reached them.
The median national rent climbed 9.2% in the first half of 2021, according to Apartment List, and is still on the way up.