Posted on 12/12/2019 7:55:29 AM PST by karpov
Among the millions of recent eviction cases researchers have begun to compile across the country, there are a startling number of modest sums. There are dozens of families in Texas evicted with money judgments — unpaid rent, late fees, court costs — totaling $516. There are multiple families in Cumberland County, N.C., who owed all of $301. There is a household in Providence, R.I., whose 2016 court record shows a debt of just $127.
Such relatively small sums suggest that, for all of the intractable problems of poverty and affordable housing driving the nation’s eviction crisis, a little intervention could help many people. And politicians in Washington increasingly have such ideas in mind: court translators, more legal aid, mediation — even emergency rent assistance.
One bill, to be introduced in the Senate on Thursday by a Democrat, Michael Bennet of Colorado, and a Republican, Rob Portman of Ohio, would create a federal grant program to fund local emergency aid for tenants at risk of eviction. The bill, which would also establish a national database tracking eviction cases, is the latest in a series of federal proposals aimed at a problem that touches high-cost coastal cities and smaller towns alike.
Several Democratic senators — Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Tim Kaine of Virginia and Chris Van Hollen of Maryland — introduced a bill this fall that would create federal grants for landlord-tenant mediation programs and translators. In the House, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has introduced a bill that would fund legal aid in states and cities that establish a right to counsel for tenants that is akin to a new mandate in New York City.
And in the Democratic primary, an anti-eviction agenda is now practically a required element of candidates’ housing plans.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
People who says "it's only a few hundred dollars, don't evict them" are welcome to make loans and gifts to tenants they consider deserving, rather than coercing the taxpayer to do so.
OMG OMG. What could go wrong here?
Lesson: The problem isn't the $600 debt. There are deeper problems that aren't going to go away just because the government threw a check in the mail.
Rent is not government’s business.
The ultimate goal of the Liberals is to control housing, making life hell for landlords is the way to achieve it.
“Eviction.crisis”?
Odd way to describe the problems caused by deadbeats.
If there is any government relieve here, it should be at the state or local level. It is none of the federal government’s business or responsibility. The federal government should stick with the constitutional enumeration of powers and leave the rest to the states.
How many renters has Emily Badger personally saved?
KEEP THE GOV’T OUT OF RENT CO TROL!! If you’ve ever had a tenant that you wanted to keep, a few hundred dollars wont make you take them to court. the people being evicted probably for the most part are either bums, lowlifes, poor poor me’s or the land lord is an a-hole and its for the best the 2 SHOULD parts ways.
Yesssss.... let’s let the problem be soved by government officials in Washington DC.
They’re so smart!
If the government steps in and pays what’s due you will suddenly have millions of people who let it get to this point so the government can bail them out.
What next? If “poor” people run out of gas, will the government send a truck to give them free gas?
It’s going in that direction. People expect the government to bail everyone out.
Emily, we don’t need Washington to do something. Open your pocketbook and help them if you feel moved to do so. Also, if the illegals leave, many apartments would become available and rent would go down. See how that works?
I owe $200,000 on my mortgage. Is there something Washington can do to help me?
There is a perception that housing is a right.
Why should this be a government problem?
Get a place you can’t afford, don’t pay the rent, and it’s YOUR problem, you own it 100%.
It’s not our problem as tax payers!
The problem is easily rectified.
Regardles of the great jobs reports and the stock market, the middle class is still hurting.
The corporate greed makes it so that many people can’t make more than 15$
an hour. So that means 2 jobs for many. And some of these people are educated, but lost out during the Obama years.
Inflation is eating away at them too.
The tax bill did not really help these people either.
Trump should know better. He needs to start talking about this.
Tell you what, NYT. Take it out of the money of your owners.
Amazing to see how liberals always want to give away other people’s money.
Yes, I do sympathize with the desire to help those in need. But, when the gubmit touches something, they turn it instantly into shi...er...Obamastuff.
“Many Renters Who Face Eviction Owe Less Than $600. Can Washington do something to help them?”
that’s only because smart landlords evict before they’ve lost thousands of dollars ...
If you owe a small amount, many landlords will be willing to work with you and make a payment plan, rather than going through the process of eviction. Eviction means the landlord has to pay lawyers, do a lot of paperwork, and usually wait several months to get possession. It’s not something that they want to have to go through all the time.
However, the tenant that owes money has to be proactive if they want to get on a payment plan, and they have to stick with it. If you are dodging the landlord, not responding to a notice, or missing payments once they agree to a plan, then you are going to be evicted as fast as possible. It’s already likely they may lose 2-3 more months of rent as soon as they start the eviction process, because a lot of people just stop paying altogether once they get a court summons. So better for the landlord to cut their losses and start the process when the balance is still small, rather than lose even more money by trying to be generous.
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