One by one, pandemic relief programs that financially supported millions of Americans are going away, the New York Times reported. With legislative packages worth trillions of dollars, the federal government wove a temporary safety net that provided help for people dealing with lockdowns, job losses and worse. But many of the most far-reaching protections, including eviction moratoriums and expanded unemployment benefits, are about to expire. Provisions affecting student loans, food stamps and more are scheduled to follow in the coming months. It’s not all bad: This month, millions of households are receiving the first of six monthly payments that are part of an expanded child tax credit. But if you rely on any of the programs that are going away, this is an anxious time. Last year, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposed a nationwide eviction moratorium and then extended the pause until July 31. But the agency declared that was “intended to be” the last extension. Barring some last-minute change because of rising numbers of coronavirus cases — which would probably have to overcome legal challenges — the moratorium will end in a few weeks. Unless your state or local government has extended the moratorium further — the prohibition in New York State ends Aug. 31, for instance, and an organization called Eviction Lab has a list of others on its website — landlords may be able to move quickly. This is especially true for tenants whose evictions were in progress when the pandemic started, or those whose landlords have already taken legal actions that remained allowable during the moratorium, which included parts of the eviction process short of the actual removal of tenants. Pandemic relief legislation made transformative — but temporary — changes to the way the unemployment insurance system works. It expanded eligibility, increased payments and extended benefits for longer periods, augmenting the programs run by each state. But federal support for those changes expires on Sept. 6.
