The Coming Pandemic-Induced Eviction Crisis
If federal unemployment benefits are not extended when they expire next month, millions of households will be facing both steep rent and unemployment with no assistance. And that means mass evictions.
An aerial view of San Francisco’s first temporary sanctioned tent encampment for the homeless on May 18, 2020 in San Francisco, California. Justin Sullivan / Getty
Were it not for the passage of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which authorized a one-time stimulus check to most Americans and weekly unemployment payments of $600 per week on top of state unemployment benefits, researchers at Columbia University expect that 12 million additional people would have been plunged into poverty.
The CARES Act helped avert that Great Depression–level disaster. A separate study found that poverty rates fell during April and May, due in large part to the fact that the unemployment assistance exceeds what most eligible recipients were earning.
Unfortunately, CARES unemployment assistance is now set to expire on July 31. Among other ugly inevitabilities, this means we’re staring down the barrel of a housing crisis.
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