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Unsanitized: The COVID-19 Report for Sept. 1, 2020

An Ominous First of the Month
The rent crisis, from Pennsylvania to California

 

Tenant groups protest in Philadelphia, PA, in July. (Tom
Gralish/Philadelphia Inquirer via AP)

First Response

The first of the month has been an unrealized fear in this pandemic.
Fears of mass evictions and foreclosures have been tempered by the
robust unemployment insurance enhancement, federal eviction and
foreclosure moratoria that kept some people safe, and more protections
at the city and state level. Most of those have washed away now. The
$600/week unemployment boost is gone, replaced by a stopgap $300 most
states have been approved for

but only three of which have actually started sending out. That $300 is
only likely to last 3-5 weeks. Transfer payments from the government
were still incredibly high in July, at $1.7 trillion
;
that's going to fall precipitously in August.  

Combine that lack of federal aid with the end of the federal eviction
moratorium (not that it was being enforced
),
and more important, the expiration of state moratoria and the resumption
of housing courts. There was slight distress

in August rent payments but without the unemployment boost, distress
will grow, poverty will increase

and people will grow more desperate
.
And now many landlords can act, not only on those who miss today's
rent, but those who owe from months ago.

Activist groups allege that 30-40 million renters are at risk of
eviction; if even one-tenth of that number materializes it would be a
catastrophe. "Before COVID-19 we were already facing a shortage of
affordable housing," said Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) at a press event with
renters facing eviction yesterday. "Housing is a fundamental human
right that should be afforded to all people."

Yesterday I spoke with Migreldi Lara, a hair stylist and single mother
of three who came to Reading, Pennsylvania from the U.S. Virgin Islands
last December. She immediately got a job and, after saving while
sleeping in her cousin's hallway for weeks, found an apartment. "It
seemed that we were finally going to be stable," she told me through
an interpreter. But the move-in occurred in February, and the pandemic
in March.

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Migreldi's job stopped and her childrens' school and daycare shut
down. Stimulus checks for her and the kids (she's been a U.S. taxpayer
for 20 years) covered the $800 rent for a few months, but she wasn't
eligible for unemployment. She has gone days without food during the
crisis. Her job has since restarted, but since she has no childcare and
schools remain in distance learning, she can't leave the house. Her
landlord recently reminded her that she's months behind on rent.

A statewide eviction moratorium in Pennsylvania protected Migreldi, but
Governor Tom Wolf let it expire yesterday, saying he had no legal
authority

to extend a prior executive order and needed legislative action.
Republicans control the legislature in Pennsylvania, and while a
moratorium has been introduced, its passage is not entirely likely.
There's a $100 million state rent relief program, but while over
13,000 renters have applied, less than 100 have been processed. Make the
Road PA, a community action group for renters in the state, says that
1.3 million Pennsylvanians are at risk of eviction without the
moratorium.

"I see me and my family out on the street," said Migreldi. She's
looked into a shelter for her and her kids. "But I'm so afraid about
COVID and other diseases that are in shelters. I've been through
shelters, the kids have been in them before. It has traumatized me and
my kids."

Make the Road PA is one of several groups holding nationwide protests
today, one under the banner of "We Strike Together
," another under "Relief is Due
." Make the Road PA will rally
outside housing court in Reading. A majority of Black and Latino
residents in the city are renters, and also make up a disproportionate
share of homeless people. In this small-ish city, 2,300 households are
at risk of eviction, including 1,700 children, three of them
Migreldi's. "People like Migreldi are doing everything they could
and still ending up homeless," said Patty Torres of Make the Road PA.
But part of the protest is just making renters aware of their rights.
The activists know that the evictions are coming.

I heard from numerous other tenants facing eviction risk yesterday,
people who've been given notice or expect it soon. One called in from
a homeless encampment. Nicole Cureton of ActionNC in North Carolina has
housing court on Friday. "I am fighting for my human right to have
housing for my family," she said. "I will not stop fighting for my
children."

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Watch This

I did a Zoom event for my book Monopolized with Zephyr Teachout and
Barry Lynn of the Open Markets Institute. Watch here
.

I also was involved in an event about the post office and postal banking
with DSA and Dissent magazine, which you can watch here
.

And here I am appearing at a SALT Talk with none other than Anthony
Scaramucci (who was great, actually). Watch here
.

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California's Non-Moratorium Moratorium

Among the states dealing with an expiring eviction moratorium was
California. Yesterday, an eviction deal that was announced last Friday

secured final passage
before the
end of the legislative session, and got signed by the governor
minutes before the August 31 expiration date. Gavin Newsom
called it "a bridge to a more permanent solution," urging federal
support.

Activists are calling it a bridge to nowhere. The moratorium, extended
to February 1, 2021, only kicks in for renters who can show hardship due
specifically to COVID-19. Tenants must pay at least 25 percent of new
rent (not the arrears before September 1) to be eligible. Housing courts
will reopen statewide tomorrow, as other types of evictions besides
non-payment of rent can move forward.

Anya Svanoe of the Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment
(ACCE) told me about one of their renters, Patricia Mendoza, whose
unemployment currently doesn't even cover that 25 percent rental
requirement, let alone other necessities. "The landlord has been
harassing her since her first missed payment," Svanoe said.
"Landlords do this all the time, harassing tenants to get them out of
their home, whatever sorts of excuses they can make up."

The fear, and it's a reasonable one, is that landlords will figure out
non-payment reasons to kick out non-paying tenants. And tenants having
to certify that their payment struggles are COVID-related adds
complications as well. The legislation, Svanoe said, "makes [Newsom]
look good, but for people who lost jobs, it's not even close to what
we need."

Activists wanted an extension

of the statewide moratorium, a relief fund for mom and pop landlords,
and forgiveness of pandemic-related rent debt. Instead they got a
compromise, during a public health crisis that demands that people stay
housed. Millions of renters could pay the price. As Mendoza said in a
statement, "The rich get richer while the poor get forgotten."

Days Without a Bailout Oversight Chair

159
.

We Can't Do This Without You

Today I Learned

* A lending company catering to low-income Latinos sues thousands

during the pandemic. (ProPublica)

* The White House privately warned red states

in June about a rising COVID threat. (Politico)

* Private jet companies get a triple-dip bailout

despite faring quite well during the crisis. (Business Insider)

* The death count has not been artificially increased, it's just that
politically motivated people can't read a chart
.
(Talking Points Memo)

* Walmart launches a membership program

as delivery-based commerce takes over. (CNBC)

* Big Oil's big idea for surviving the demand collapse in COVID is to
sell Africa plastic
.
(New York Times)

* The sad desk salad is dying
, and
with it millions of jobs at sad salad makers. (Financial Times)

* They played a college football game on Saturday. It turned on one team
mysteriously having no long snappers available
.
(Football Scoop)

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