The Eviction Moratorium is Ending (Script & Sources)

Good morning, bad news: the federal eviction moratorium officially ends at midnight on Saturday, July Thirty-First. Nearly one-in-six renters face eviction, while owing as much as seventy billion dollars in unpaid rent. During the last housing crisis, seven million people lost their homes in just five years - today we’re looking at ten million by the end of this year. We’ve kicked the can down the road for 16 months, and on Sunday we reach the end of the road. Let's talk about the next unprecedented housing crisis and ANOTHER multi-trillion dollar transfer of wealth from the working class to billionaires, which apparently they’re using to send phallic overcompensating metaphors for the only thing money can't buy into space.

The Biden administration has chosen not to fight the federal court rulings that say the CDC lacks authority to enact federal moratoriums, opting instead to ask Congress, who does have such authority. But, as usual, Congress has been reluctant to help the working class. For reference, legislation was introduced to provide one hundred billion dollars for emergency rent assistance, of which they approved less than half, and of that, less than ten percent has actually been allocated to renters in need. And it’s worth noting that indebted renters are disproportionately working-class families of color, and one-in-four have either lost their job or are making less now than they did before the pandemic.

So when the moratorium is lifted, since unemployment is still at 6% with 9 million people still out of work, most renters won’t pay back their landlords, and landlords won’t be able to pay their mortgages, so millions of people will be evicted, millions of homes will be foreclosed on, and the housing market will be flooded with empty properties.

Waves of foreclosures are perfect opportunities for private equity groups and hedge funds to continue buying every home they can get their hands on to make it impossible for anyone else to afford a home, and increasing the likelihood of another generation of renters beholden to overpriced rents charged by billion-dollar real estate firms, creating yet ANOTHER massive generational wealth transfer while a massive portion of the middle and working-class become homeless.

One more complicating factor: the first large wave of evictions will be finalized in early September at the exact same time that the pandemic unemployment assistance will run out. The people receiving unemployment assistance are the same people at risk of eviction, creating a perfect storm for millions of people of having no income and no housing amid rapidly rising rents during a surge in Covid-19 cases as a result of the Delta variant, with scientists predicting, in their worst-case projections, an estimated peak in October when a quarter-million people will be infected and four thousand will die per day.

Now, keep in mind, this is a doomsday scenario that assumes no new programs, vaccination efforts, or financial assistance going forward, which isn’t likely. Some renters will get financial assistance, unemployment rates should drop, and vaccination rates should increase. A handful of states, like California, also have their own eviction moratoriums that are unaffected by this federal moratorium expiring. Check your state. However, people in power have consistently taken advantage of opportunities to enrich themselves throughout this pandemic, and this might be the biggest opportunity yet. Trillions of dollars have already been transferred from the working class to the rich, and the rich have been preparing for this for months. Will you be evicted? Maybe. Will billionaires get richer? Definitely.