The Eviction Crisis Continues as Federal Aid Dries Up

With federal assistance programs drying up and rents continuing to rise in most U.S. cities, more households are facing eviction, reports Shannon Pettypiece for NBC News. “Eviction filings have been on the rise and were above their historical averages in half of the 1,059 counties tracked by Legal Services Corp., a federally-funded legal aid group, during either August or September.”

Experts worry that the wave of evictions expected after pandemic relief ends is about to crest as inflation soars and the country faces an acute housing shortage. “Despite a relatively strong job market and historically low unemployment, nearly 7.8 million Americans said they were behind on their rent in October and 3 million felt they were likely to be evicted in the next two months, according to a census survey the same month.” 

Rents nationwide went up by 9 percent in September, with some cities, such as Phoenix, experiencing rent hikes of as much as 24 percent year over year. “With the emergency rental assistance funds running low, the Biden administration is urging states and cities to use other sources of funding, including the remaining money from the Covid stimulus bill passed last year, to continue providing support to renters or to put other protection policies in place, said Gene Sperling, the White House’s coordinator for American Rescue Plan funds.”