The idea that this isn't happening and isn't, or won't be, true in Omaha and across Nebraska is ridiculous and idiotic.
/1 https://twitter.com/HuffPost/status/1337762634142199810

Every single social service agency in Omaha that offers housing assistance can tell you that the need for their help exploded with the onset of the pandemic in March and has not abated since then.

Advocates have been saying, even before COVID, that evictions have devastating long-term consequences that ripple through families and through the community.
During COVID, advocates have been Screaming that these consequences threatened public health. /3

People were dying on the streets before COVID. In Omaha. In Nebraska. More people than you would be comfortable knowing.
Now, during COVID, homelessness and evictions will put *you* at risk. An eviction can be a literal death sentence.

The ripple effect of evictions in Omaha on children and on neighborhoods (and so, on perceptions of poor families and poor neighborhoods) were recently detailed in this study: https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/b839374e031d4ecfa21cb1fbaebbf31e

This is your City. These are your schools.
/5

Some Omaha landlords and their lawyers have stated that there really haven't been *that* many evictions during COVID.
But this is absurd. Every eviction is a Person. A human being. A neighbor.
And even the threat of eviction is devastating. /6

In Omaha/Douglas County: there were over 1600 eviction actions filed between March and mid-August.
The avg family size in Douglas County is 3.12. Avg household size is 2.48 meaning that 3,968 - 4,992 of our neighbors were in danger of losing their homes in a pandemic.
/7

And these numbers do not include informal evictions where a person leaves their housing because of the threat of an eviction filing. These have the same end result as an eviction action, but don't show up in the court records.
/8

Even if we take just the number of eviction filings which ended in eviction between March and August, we are close to 500 (488). That means 1,210-1,522 of our neighbors.
305 of those were for non-payment. That's 756-952 of our neighbors. /9

I need you to understand that these numbers should make you sick.
I need you to understand that these numbers represent people.
I need you to understand that it did not need to be this way.
/10

And yes. There has been some respite in the form of moratoriums.
First, the CARES Act moratorium extended to any property covered by the federal government - mortgages held by Fannie and Freddie, properties that had received funding (LIHTC, etc).
But
/11

Nationally, this moratorium covered 30% of renters (at best) and it had loopholes big enough to drive a truck through.
In Omaha, this did not stop evictions from even these "covered" properties. There were 25 eviction judgments from these properties.
/12

The Governor enacted a temporary moratorium that ended May 31. It only applied to renters who could prove they couldn't pay their rent bc of COVID.
But this isn't just about the economic issue. This is and has always been also a public health imperative.
/12

Then we waited. And evictions continued. And people got sick. And people died.

And evictions contributed to our collective suffering, because evictions have never been isolated incidents.
/13

We knew this would happen.
/14

The need for housing assistance has grown, demonstrating what we have known for a long time - far too many of our neighbors were living on the edge.
I cannot overstate how little our City leaders have done to acknowledge that in a meaningful way.
/15

Housing cost burdens have always fell disproportionately on black and brown communities.
Since the pandemic started here, 50% of *all* statewide 211 calls for housing assistance have come from zip codes in North and South Omaha ( @TonyVargas @JustinTWayne @T_McKinney2020)
/16

And it should not shock you that the zip codes with the most eviction filings are the same.
/17

It did not need to be this way, and it is all of our collective moral failure that it is.
It is a moral stain on our community and one that will not easily fade away.
/18

We need rental assistance now, and we need an eviction moratorium now.
Both of these imperatives must apply as broadly as possible.
/19

And we need to be honest about what the failure to advance housing justice and housing equity means for our community.
I will not soon forget what caused this incredible and reeling human tragedy. I will not soon forgive who caused it.
/20

If your elected officials are not talking about housing justice, if they are not fighting for it, if they are willfully ignoring and diminishing what this failure has meant, if they don't have a plan - they are not talking about equity.
And they do not care about you.
/21

Eviction is death.

Fin.

(and if you are tempted to reply something like "but what about the landlords?" save it because I'll block you because I don't care and I don't owe you anything. Seriously. I owe you nothing.
Call your representatives and ask for rent relief if you care about the landlords)

(and credit to my research friend. You know who you are).