Evictions are expected to “skyrocket” across the country in the coming months as expanded unemployment benefits expire at the end of July, local eviction moratoriums come to an end across the country, and courts reopen to process cases, writes Renae Merle for The Washington Post.
According to analysis by the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, of the 110 million Americans living in rental housing, 20% are at risk of eviction by Sept. 30. The Colorado-based community group expects African American and Hispanic renters to be hardest hit.
“If you look at the COVID pandemic and the health outcomes, the economic outcomes, that is hitting black and brown people very hard,” said Peter Hepburn, a research fellow at Princeton University’s Eviction Lab. “And that is likely to be seen in the housing market as well.”
In response to a survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, about 44 percent and 41 percent of adult Latino and black renters, respectively, said they had no or slight confidence they could pay their rent next month or were likely to defer payment, according to an Urban Institute analysis of the data, which was collected between May 28 and June 9. About 21 percent of white renters felt the same.