A Massive Wave Of Evictions Is Coming

"A massive wave of evictions is coming. Temporary bans won't help.
Before the novel coronavirus struck, 300,000 evictions were filed in the United States in a typical month. With nearly 10 million people filing unemployment claims last month, evictions would clearly skyrocket, absent intervention from the government. In one hint of the trouble to come, researchers...." SFGate https://www.sfgate.com/opinion/article/A-massive-wave-of-evictions-is-coming-Temporary-15186836.php

Brandon WilliamsCraig: #RentStrike. Not for me while I have income and can pay as I have agreed, but for those forced to live in housing designed to be unaffordable and those who have been ordered into staying home and sinking further into poverty to protect public health.

SM: Small landlords won't like rent strikes at all. Unintended consequences abound.

Brandon WilliamsCraig: Very true, and the temptation to say "I know we are all suffering right now, but that can't get passed on to/shared by me" is very strong. "You aren't getting paid but I must be" is especially hard when it ends in fatalities.

SM: I feel for the people who have to show up for work every day in dangerous (infectious) situations in order to keep society functioning. Too many of them are earning minimum wage already.

Brandon WilliamsCraig: SM, Amen.

DI: Indeed, I’m in that situation – accountant/landlord has been pushing me to move out the entire time of shelter in place, as I was doing a room trade with someone who went into residential care on March 8. Stressful!

LD: My girlfriend has two small rentals and runs a solopreneur hospitality based business to make ends meet. Of course her business is shut down. The rent she was charging her tenants was barely enough to cover mortgages and taxes on the rentals, and all upkeep came out of her pocket. She never raised the rent because they're long term tenants and it didn't seem fair as long as she was breaking even. So if they stop paying rent the banks foreclose and they're evicted anyway.

Brandon WilliamsCraig:
Makes sense. There are two ways out of a crisis like this. Solidarity (nobody has money so nobody pays or gets foreclosed/evicted all the way up) or crushing the people with less power--bank foreclosures drive landlord evictions drive the working poor into homelessness. With an almost complete lack of leadership from D.C., the States must hold everyone together so the poor are not sacrificed until the election can generate additional options and some hope.

LD: Brandon WilliamsCraig thats part of the issue. In Oregon the governor passed a "no eviction" regulation. But any mortgage relief or freeze? That HAS to be federal, and there's nothing even being talked about right now because the mortgage market is already in free fall. This totally false idea that "rich landlords are getting rich off of the backs of the poor" is total garbage, but its pervasive enough that when most renters hear they won't be evicted? They "hear" I don't have to pay rent and my fat cat landlord can't do anything about it. Its complete BS all the way around.

Brandon WilliamsCraig: Absolutely agree. Solidarity means nobody gets hung out to dry, and the only way to get an Everybody solution is at the federal level. Too bad we've accepted that the federal government, our only overall instrument of protecting ourselves, should be destroyed.

JZ: For small time landlords I understand it’s hard on them too. But it is an investment like anything else - a risk.

AL: Jessica Zane but that risk is mitigated by tenants paying. The inability to rent is the risk. Yes, people not paying is also a risk, but there is a typical process to deal with non-payment that they can’t utilize.

AL: Mortgages are being placed in a forebearance status and foreclosures are being delayed in some instances out to 180 days. That is in place right now. But, as a lender, even if I give you a forbearance, at some point the bill comes due. Landlords need to be making similar payment arrangements with their tenants. If a tenant believes they can’t be evicted, they might be right for 120 days or so, but eventually the bill will come due. The stimulus bill is to help weather this storm, not for a new TV or iPhone but I suspect, we will see many tenants buying new TVs and iPhone instead of making good with their landlord. In those instances, I have little sympathy on the tenant.

BW: Agree. And, in my direct experience working with groups around class issues, people with privilege almost always reach for "we will see many [Poor People] buying new TVs and iPhone instead of making good" when studies show that working/poor people most often make recovery purchases--those things privileged people think of as essential and wouldn't think of doing without, but which people who will never Own must wait to afford--like preventative medical work, dental work, a used but working replacement vacuum cleaner, etc. Beliefs about The Poor by those with social power are one of the single most potent contributing factors to supporting public policy which further undermines society as a whole based on "in those instances, I have little sympathy."

WP: At least here in California, the moratorium on evictions only applies to people with direct financial impact because of Coronavirus or shelter in place orders. And tenants need to provide documentation of reduced financial capacity if they want to avoid eviction. This is not and should not be a rent holiday for everyone.

Brandon WilliamsCraig: Agree.