Nearly 2 Million US Households Owe $15 Billion in Back Rent: Report

An estimated 1.95 million U.S. renter households owed more than $15.3 billion in back rent when the federal eviction moratorium expired on July 31, according to a new report.

The number of renter households in debt is expected to reach 2 million by December, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said in the July 30 report (pdf). Those households are expected to collectively owe $18.6 billion by that point, with an average debt of $9,300.

The state with the largest estimated number of households in arrears on rent in August is California (313,300), followed by Texas (174,900), Florida (171,900), and New York (155,600). California is also estimated to owe the largest amount of rent debt ($3.54 billion), which is greater than the combined rent debt of the next two states, Florida ($1.53 billion) and New York ($1.43 billion).

The report came as the nationwide eviction ban, which was first enacted in September 2020 as part of the federal government’s effort to prevent the further spread of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, came to an end on July 31. The idea was that evicted individuals often share living spaces with relatives or friends or move into crowded homeless shelters, undermining social distancing restrictions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which extended the moratorium several times, was ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to leave the policy in place until the end of July. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was the deciding justice in the 5-4 ruling, pointed out that the CDC lacked authority to extend the eviction ban again, unless it did so by an act of Congress.

“In my view, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31,” Kavanaugh’s concurring opinion read.

Central Florida report:

1/”Help Wanted” signs are all over the place.

2/ A friend’s high school buddy owns a small used car lot. Normally they sell 12 to 15 per month. In June they sold 76. Seems as if lotsa the stimulus $$s are going for things other than rent and necessities...

I have a dear older lady friend, a widow in fact, who has done well up until the pandemic with real estate. She has a few small multi-unit buildings (4-6 unit apartment buildings) and a couple of condos she rents out. This is in a major metropolitan area.

She has a tenant who just refused to pay when the rules “changed”. Technically the tenant is supposed to make up the back rent over 12 months. But if the tenant did not (or could not) pay the $4000 a month rent for this luxury condo near the beach, there is no way she would pay $6000-$7000+ a month over the next 12 months. She’s doing OK but is being pinched. Even though the tenant was receiving at least $800 a week in pandemic money (at least that much) she refused to pay rent and my dear old friend is having a difficult time evicting her. She doesn’t want the back money so much as she wants the tenant out.

Quite a lot. I’m in a couple groups for landlords and there is a mass exodus underway for small time property owners. The rules of the game were that you and your tenant agreed upon a price and that if the tenant didn’t pay you, the government would help you remove them and you could then find someone who would pay. There are an obscene number of mortgages based upon this working.

With the moratorium, this no longer works. People move in, they don’t pay, they just stay. And stay. And stay. No contract enforcement from the government. No recourse whatsoever. This is leading to a mass consolidation of rental properties under a handful of multinational corporations who can afford to deal with this nonsense. But make no mistake: they do not care. Your mom is sick and you need a little extra time to pay? They do not care. Chunk of the ceiling fell and hit your kid in the head? They do not care. Found black mold that’s making your family ill? They do not care. They will do whatever the precise minimum is to ensure that their lawyers can defend it in court based on the local laws and enforcement patterns.

This action by the Democrats and the CDC is leading directly to a situation where renters around the nation will find themselves in an infinitely less compassionate, less flexible, and less workable situation. Those of us who own our homes will be fine. Better, really, because property values have done nothing but skyrocket. People who rent are in for a world of hurt. This is the price of Democrats’ “free” stuff.

There are two angles to this disgrace. The first is the lost rental income that will never be recovered by the landlord.

The second -- and bigger -- problem is that the precedent set by the CDC and a whole bunch of state and municipal governments has greatly diminished the value of residential rental properties to the point where anyone with half a brain would build a synagogue in Afghanistan before they'd even think of buying rental property in the U.S.

... My guess is that The Left has created the crises in order to facillitate the formation of yet another ultra expensive Entitlement ....

.... This is probably the First Salvo towards the creation of a Socialist/Communist Style Housing economy in which Federal, State, and Local governments set such strict limits and controls on Rental Housing ... Such as ..... Financing, Development, and Management ..... That .... the average investor will find it almost impossible to comply.

....So .... After the current crop of failed investors fold and the Government takes control of the properties for the good of the people .... The Loving Government will in effect, own and operate most rental housing in the United States in the future.

I work part time in Sam’s.
Big screen T.V.”s. Sound systems. big ticket items would walk out the door as those gub mint checks came in.

course the funny thing is that those collecting unemployment and that extra federal gub mint check have to pay taxes at the end of the year and good luck with that after your spending spree on TV’s and booze and dope.

And there will be nearly 2 million different workouts.

Smart folks will negotiate to leave without any further fight in return for not being evicted, and they’ll find less expensive housing. Others will agree to pay back some of what they owe, and the landlords may at least let them stay till the end of their lease and agree not to give them bad reports.

Others will drag the landlords through further legal process, will get evivted, and will be radioactive for years.

Certainly, more people will return to work.

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