Eviction filings are far above pre-pandemic levels in many cities across the country as pandemic relief disappears and inflation causes rents to spike
Maria Jackson, right, moves into a room at a home with the help of friend David Mcfarlan Monday, May 8, 2023, in Las Vegas. Jackson, a longtime massage therapist, lost her customers when the pandemic triggered a statewide shutdown in March 2020 and was evicted from her apartment earlier this year.
After a lull during the pandemic, eviction filings by landlords have come roaring back, driven by rising rents and a long-running shortage of affordable housing. Most low-income tenants can no longer count on pandemic resources that had kept them housed, and many are finding it hard to recover because they haven't found steady work or their wages haven't kept pace with the rising cost of rent, food and other necessities.
At the same time, rent prices nationwide are up about 5% from a year ago and 30.5% above 2019, according to the real estate company Zillow. There are few places for displaced tenants to go, with the National Low Income Housing Coalition estimating a 7.3 million shortfall of affordable units nationwide.a safety net created during the pandemicThe federal government, as well as many states and localities, issued moratoriums during the pandemic that put evictions on hold; most have now ended.
Housing advocates had hoped the Democrat-controlled state Legislature would pass a bill requiring landlords to provide justification for evicting tenants and limit rent increases to 3% or 1.5 times inflation. But it was excluded from the state budget and lawmakers failed to pass it before the legislative session ended this month.
“It’s a huge mistake to miss our shot here,” said Ben Martin, a research director at nonprofit Texas Housers. “If we don’t address it, now, the crisis is going to get worse.”
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Rising rents and diminishing aid are fueling a sharp increase in evictions in many US citiesEviction filings are far above pre-pandemic levels in many cities across the country as pandemic relief disappears and inflation causes rents to spike. According to the latest data from the Eviction Lab, filings in some cities are running as much as 50% above levels seen prior to the pandemic. Those numbers are especially stark, given that many tenants experienced a reprieve during the pandemic when eviction moratoriums were in place and billions of dollars in federal rental assistance was plentiful. Most of the moratoriums are now gone and many of the larger cities have exhausted their rental assistance.
Read more »
UnitedHealth stock falls as exec says medical costs risingInsider tells the global tech, finance, markets, media, healthcare, and strategy stories you want to know.
Read more »
Oxy's rising share price pushes it to top of Chronicle 100 amid energy's dominanceA synopsis of the Houston area’s best-performing public companies last year can be found in a song lyric familiar to any casual fan of The Who: “Meet the new boss. Same as the old boss.”
Read more »
With costs rising, District 15 considers borrowing more for improvement planThe cost of Moving 15 Forward is rising, while the timeline for some of the work may be longer than expected, Palatine Township Elementary School District 15 officials say of their $186 million plan to renovate schools and create an all-day kindergarten program.
Read more »
Juno Temple and Riley Keough on Growing Up But Remaining “Rising Stars”Former costars (and former roommates) Juno Temple and Riley Keough reflect on their perpetual status as “rising stars” and how hair and costumes informed their roles on TedLasso and DaisyJonesAndTheSix.
Read more »
Nikon is Rapidly Rising Up Sales Charts Thanks to the Z8Nikon, which just two years ago floundered well below its contemporaries, is once again making waves.
Read more »