Millions of people are falling behind on rent and utilities as Americans endure the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The federal eviction moratorium, set by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is set to run out at the end of 2020, as are unemployment protections. Around 2.4 to five million Americans are also at risk of eviction in January alone, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The Washington Post broke the numbers down.
analysis by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, looking at people who had jobs before the pandemic, found 1.3 million such households are now an average of $5,400 in debt on rent and utilities, after those people had lost jobs and their family’s income plunged.
And many experts are warning that it’s unlikely many people will have saved enough to cover several months of rent in one payment, after the eviction moratorium has lifted.
Find our last conversation about evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic here.
We’re talking about what Congress could do to assist these renters with Senator Elizabeth Warren, (D-MA). We also answer your questions about rights for tenants and what resources are available to help.
1A Across America is funded through a grant from The Corporation for Public Broadcasting. CPB is a private, nonprofit corporation created by Congress in 1967 that is the steward of the federal government’s investment in public broadcasting.
Copyright 2020 WAMU 88.5. To see more, visit WAMU 88.5.