A federal moratorium that has protected millions of renters from eviction since late March expires Friday, leaving millions of people at risk even as the coronavirus continues to spread across the nation, The Washington Post reported. The moratorium covers renters who live in homes with federally backed mortgages, which the Urban Institute estimates to be 12.3 million households, or about 30% of all renters nationwide. Once the moratorium lapses, landlords can give their delinquent tenants 30 days notice, then begin filing eviction paperwork in late August. The expiration of the federal protection comes as state and local eviction bans are also starting to expire and enhanced federal unemployment benefits that kept many renters afloat are scheduled to end. This will put more pressure on renters already scraping by, housing advocates say. “We are looking at an eviction cliff, and once we fall over it, it will be hard to climb back,” said David Dworkin, president of the National Housing Conference. With expectations growing that the recession triggered by the pandemic could be deeper and longer than many economists expected, housing advocates are pressing Congress to step in to prevent a significant rise in evictions this year. The House passed legislation to create a $100 billion rental assistance fund. Last week, Sen. Kamala D. Harris (D-Calif.) unveiled a sweeping housing plan that would ban evictions and foreclosures for a year while giving tenants up to 18 months to pay back missed payments. The emergency rental assistance program passed by the House would help renters at the lowest income levels for up to two years, said Diane Yentel, president and chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition. The money could be delivered through state housing finance agencies, public housing agencies or other nonprofits, she said. “States and localities are pretty adept at setting up emergency rental assistance programs,” Yentel said.
