Eviction Filings Increase As Pandemic Rental Aid Programs End

Eviction Filings Increase , As Pandemic Rental Aid , Programs End.

NPR reports that emergency rental aid helped millions of people keep their homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

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This summer, the end of that federal program is expected to have allocated the entire $46 billion provided by Congress.

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As a result of funds already running out in some places, eviction filings are spiking.

NPR points out that these support programs are running out of funding amid skyrocketing housing costs and record inflation.

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So far, aid programs in Minnesota, California, Connecticut, New Jersey and Texas have already shut down.

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Our tenants are having to decide between buying food for their children or their elderly parents, or paying rent.

And that's a real tight squeeze, Dana Karni, Lone Star Legal Aid in Houston, via NPR.

Our tenants are having to decide between buying food for their children or their elderly parents, or paying rent.

And that's a real tight squeeze, Dana Karni, Lone Star Legal Aid in Houston, via NPR.

Eviction rates have been on the rise since the national moratorium on evictions ended last August.

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Diane Yentel, who heads the National Low Income Housing Coalition, warns that the current state of affairs threatens to leave many people "one financial shock" away from potential eviction or even homelessness.

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The longer we go past the time the eviction protections or resources are gone, the more we're seeing in some of these cities, eviction filing rates reach 150%, 200% of pre-pandemic averages, Diane Yentel, Heads of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, via NPR.

Yentel points out that even before the pandemic, millions of low-income households were already using at least half of their income for rent.

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According to Redfin, the cost of rent has risen 17% in the last year alone.