"I'm terrified," Lavita Harvey said on Thursday to journalists at CBS. The single mother from Las Vegas is one of millions of Americans who fear for their homes these days. Harvey lost two jobs in the pandemic and has been months behind on her rent. In fact, she has already been awarded $ 9,000 in rental aid. But the money comes from the federal government, and the state of Nevada has only called three million of the $ 125 million in aid it is entitled to so far. And now the evictions stop will expire at the end of the month.
The moratorium effectively deferred rental debts during the pandemic.
The rating agency Moody's estimates that seven million Americans hadn't paid $ 40 billion in rent by May of this year.
The eviction stop has so far prevented people from being pushed out of their homes who got into financial difficulties during the pandemic.
It also prevented the homeless shelters from becoming overcrowded - cities like New York had housed homeless people in hotels for months because the coronavirus spread particularly quickly in the mass accommodation.
Money not distributed
The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) formally issued the ban on evictions last September, thus continuing Donald Trump's government moratorium. The conservatively dominated Supreme Court decided in June that the authority could no longer extend the moratorium after July 31. After that, according to the judges, the congress would have to decide on further regulations. Landlord organizations argue that Americans can get vaccinated and are no longer prevented from making money.
On Thursday, the White House asked the two chambers to settle the matter in good time. Spokeswoman Jen Psaki reiterated that the president would welcome an extension of the moratorium. Due to the increasing number of infections and the stagnating vaccination campaign, the population is still in a "moment of increased vulnerability".
The ministries for housing and agriculture, as well as the veterans authority, have already extended their eviction stops until the end of September. Anyone who lives in a publicly financed or federally insured apartment is therefore initially safe. Certain states like New York have also passed their own moratoriums. And people who can no longer pay their rent should actually be entitled to up to 18 months of rental subsidies - only the corresponding money from the Corona aid packages has not yet been fully distributed to the states.