Mass Evictions Predicted as Short-Term Economic Relief Runs Out

Henry Louis Taylor, Jr., a professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Buffalo, is featured in an ABC News article about the ongoing risk of mass evictions as the country's millions of renters collides with tens of millions of new unemployment claims across the country. 

Taylor said that "federal and statewide eviction moratoriums are based on COVID-19 timetables that are 'too short' and don’t consider predictions from medical experts that the pandemic could persist into the fall and beyond, as public health officials have suggested," according to the article, written by Deena Zaru. 

"More than 30 million Americans have filed for unemployment insurance since the COVID-19 crisis hit the U.S. in March, and despite a range of temporary federal and state eviction moratoriums, some Americans are still being served eviction notices amid a public health crisis that requires many people to stay at home," according to Zaru.

In April, a Planetizen article detailed the looming eviction crisis, as state, local, and national policies have only so far deferred the housing crisis. Since then, progressive members of Congress have pushed for more thorough forms of rent relief, while lawyers for landlords have achieved legal success against local eviction moratoriums. 

Emily Benfer, a professor of clinical law and the director of Columbia University’s Health Justice Advocacy Clinic, is also quoted in the ABC News article, predicting a major spike in evictions simultaneous to the country finally achieving a decline in coronavirus infections.

As reported in a separate article by Marisa Peñaloza, the American Civil Liberties Union recently sent a letter to state governments asking for action to stave off mass evictions once eviction moratoriums end.