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When the Centers for Disease Control extended eviction protections for tenants once again last month, until July 31, they unequivocally said the extension would be the last. But a wave of COVID-19 cases across the country is pushing housing advocates to sound the alarm, fearing a wave of evictions will fuel a new wave of COVID-19, especially since the hyperinfectious Delta variant is spreading across the country.
They have reason to be concerned. Recent analysis shows that millions of distressed tenants across the country live in COVID-19 hotspots where the Delta variant is advancing the fastest.
Citing this research, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York called on the Biden administration to extend the moratorium, saying: “We must protect the vulnerable and do everything in our power to prevent a massive deportation crisis. “.
National Low Income Housing Coalition chairwoman Diane Yentel also referred to the research in testimony at a House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday, saying: “The Biden administration or Congress must extend the federal moratorium on evictions “.
“The new Delta variant, the low vaccination rates in communities where eviction requests are high and the slow distribution of [rental assistance] clearly the need for an extension, ”Yentel said.
Analysis by Paul Williams, housing policy researcher and member of the Jain Family Institute, found that 78% of households behind on rent in early July were living in COVID hotspots – or around 4.7 million households out of the 6.5 million households behind in renting. Considering a typical American household has 2.5 members, that translates to more than 11 million people at risk of eviction in counties with a growing number of COVID-19 cases.
Williams noted that his estimate is likely lower than the actual number of at-risk tenants, as the underlying data, from the National Equity Atlas, excludes six states – including states like Arkansas and Mississippi, where the coronavirus is raging. .
“Putting people on the streets is unlikely to have a good effect on transmission rates in the community. [of coronavirus]”Williams told CBS MoneyWatch.
Indeed, new research published this week adds to the evidence that keeping tenants in housing is an effective public health measure. Academics from the University of California, Johns Hopkins University and Wake Forest University compared states that allowed evictions in the summer of 2020 with states that implemented eviction bans. They found that authorizing the evictions had contributed to an additional 433,000 cases of COVID-19 and an additional 10,700 deaths.
Additionally, evictions are uneven, with zip codes that have lower vaccination rates see higher rates of eviction requests, according to a recent analysis from Princeton University’s Eviction Lab. Both eviction rates and vaccination rates are correlated with income, with those with higher incomes being more likely to be vaccinated and more likely to have stable housing. And it’s not just the coronavirus: deportation is a factor in poor health, with years of research linking deportation rates to higher cases of heart disease, HIV and depression.
“[F]From a public health perspective, stopping a deportation crisis is of paramount importance, ”Emily Benfer, Wake Forest law professor and one of the article’s authors, told CBS MoneyWatch in a report. E-mail.
“There is ample evidence that 1) the Delta variant is highly contagious and is spreading at alarming rates, 2) expulsion increases the transmission of respiratory diseases (i.e. COVID-19), 3) the lifting of moratoriums on evictions is associated with an increase in COVID-19 infection and deaths, [and] 4) Immunization rates are low in high risk areas, ”she said. “All of this evidence indicates that a deportation crisis would only propel the United States deeper into the throes of the pandemic and its catastrophic consequences.
While many of these tenants facing eviction may be eligible for federal rent assistance, this money has been slow to come. As of the end of last month, only about 12% of the $ 46 billion Congress allocated in rent assistance as part of its pandemic efforts had been distributed. The reasons range from overly complex application requirements, to understaffing in government agencies and nonprofits, to owners who just don’t want to wait any longer for their money.
“States and cities, tenants, families need more time,” Yentel said.
Williams agrees. “It would be shameful if there were a bunch of people asking for this money, not getting it because the program was too slow and ended up getting kicked out,” he said, adding of the variant. Fast-spreading Delta: “Public health circumstances have changed a lot since June.”
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