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Today Congress votes on bill with immediate & essential relief for millions of struggling renters, preventing tens of millions from losing their homes next month. The bill extends the eviction moratorium through 1/31 & provides $25B in rental assistance. 1/
While extending the CDC eviction moratorium for just 1 month is clearly insufficient to keep people housed for duration of pandemic, the extension provides essential & immediate protection for millions of renters on the verge of losing their homes in weeks.
Extending the moratorium through January provides time for some emergency rental assistance to be distributed, and for President-elect @JoeBiden to strength and further extend the moratorium immediately after being sworn into office.
$25 billion in rental assistance is also clearly insufficient to meet estimated $70B owed in back rent or ongoing need for rental assistance. But these funds are essential, desperately needed, and targeted to the people most at risk of eviction.
$25B in emergency rental assistance means a lot of relief for a lot of families. Here’s our early estimate of how much money would go to states and territories to assist with rent or utility arrears or forward assistance: https://nlihc.org/sites/default/files/Estimated-Coronavirus-Relief-Fund-Allocations.pdf
The bill is insufficient, the resources & protections aren’t enough to meet needs - but they can keep tens of millions of people housed right now. Congress should enact this compromise legislation immediately, then get back to work on comprehensive solutions.
