While many states and localities have enacted policies to protect households during the COVID-19 pandemic, most renters still live in areas without an eviction moratorium, reports the Urban Institute.
As a result, millions of renters are at risk now that the Supreme Court has vacated the federal eviction moratorium.
“Without the federal moratorium, renters must rely on a patchwork of state and local protections that vary widely in eligibility criteria and the degree of protection,” report data scientist Christopher Davis and Monique King-Viehland, associate vice president, metropolitan housing and communities policy, at the Urban Institute.
They estimate that roughly 2.1 million adult renters who believe they will evicted in the next two months live in states or jurisdictions without some form of eviction moratorium.
Their work included reviewing data from the COVID-19 U.S. State Policies (CUSP) team as well as the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, which recently revealed that about 3.5 million renters believe they will likely be evicted in the coming months.
CUSP data finds that 13 states and Washington, D.C., have moratoria that protect some renters facing evictions. In addition, there are eight local jurisdictions in states without eviction moratorium that offer protections to renters, and three local jurisdictions in states with eviction moratorium offer even greater protections for renters.
Nearly 47% of renter households are in places that offer some form of eviction moratorium, leaving many rental households at risk, according to the Urban Institute.The researchers point out the urgency of disbursing the $46.5 billion in available rental assistance to renters and landlords, noting that state and local programs have allocated only about $5.1 billion in aid.
