[ As the national eviction moratorium, originally created for the
pandemic, is set to end on July 31, a new report finds that the real
estate industry has been lobbying for federal regulators to end the
policy for months.] [[link removed]]

REAL ESTATE GROUPS PAID GOP LAWMAKERS HUGE SUMS TO REINSTATE
EVICTIONS  
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Sharon Zhang
July 27, 2021
Truthout
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_ As the national eviction moratorium, originally created for the
pandemic, is set to end on July 31, a new report finds that the real
estate industry has been lobbying for federal regulators to end the
policy for months. _

Boston tenants, faith leaders, and small landlords rally and march,
calling for a stronger, longer federal eviction ban as part of a
National Day of Action to Prevent Evictions in Boston, Massachusetts,
on January 13, 2021., Lane Turner / Boston Globe // Truthout

 

The report by Accountable.US
[[link removed]],
which calls itself a government corruption watchdog group, finds that
Senators Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) and Pat Toomey (R-Pennsylvania), who
both raised objections to the eviction moratorium as early as December
of last year, have pocketed hundreds of thousands of dollars each from
real estate groups. Crapo has taken nearly $281,000 and Toomey
$183,000.

Real estate groups have filed
[[link removed]] lawsuits
[[link removed]] in
courts across the country, including the Supreme Court
[[link removed]],
trying to get the eviction moratorium struck down. Meanwhile, the
influential National Association of Realtors has lobbied across
Washington to get the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s
(CDC) moratorium ended.

This aggressive lobbying comes despite the fact that top corporate
rental companies have reported stable or good performance in the first
quarter of 2021, the report finds, with many of them reporting
“solid” finances. The finding suggests that, despite the heavy
lobbying, the ability to evict tenants isn’t necessary for these
companies to profit.

“Even during a pandemic and severe economic downturn, the real
estate industry still managed to post strong profits as families in
every corner of the country battled homelessness,” said Kyle Herrig,
president of Accountable.US, in a statement
[[link removed]].

“To make matters worse, while many landlords continued to thrive,
they fought tooth and nail to prematurely end the CDC’s eviction
moratorium and kick millions of Americans out of their homes amid a
once-in-a-lifetime pandemic,” Herrig continued, saying that it’s
crucial for lawmakers to pass housing aid.

President Joe Biden had extended
[[link removed]] the
eviction moratorium last month but pledged that it would be the last
month that the moratorium would be in place. Advocates praised the
temporary extension, but have warned that it won’t be enough to
stymie an eviction wave as the country still battles the COVID
pandemic
[[link removed]].

Democrats had sent a letter to Biden asking him to extend the
moratorium before the announcement, saying, “By extending the
moratorium and incorporating these critical improvements to protect
vulnerable renters, we can work to curtail the eviction crisis
disproportionately impacting our communities of color.”

The Biden administration has estimated that the eviction moratorium
has prevented 1.55 million evictions
[[link removed]],
though that figure could be higher as over 8 million people have
reported falling behind on rent during the pandemic, according to the
Census Bureau.

In a hearing held by the House Select Committee on the Coronavirus
Crisis
[[link removed]] on
landlord abuses and evictions, Jim Baker, the director of the Private
Equity Stakeholder Project, pointed out that many landlords have been
filing to evict their tenants despite the ban. “Since last
September, some of the world’s largest asset managers that manage
trillions of dollars have filed to evict residents,” Baker said
[[link removed]].

“While many renters have faced dramatic hardships during the
pandemic, many corporate landlords have done extremely well and are
growing and buying more houses,” said Baker. Despite that, many
corporate landlords bankrolled by large finance firms have filed
thousands of eviction actions, he said.

Indeed, the eviction moratorium was put in place to shield the country
as millions lost their jobs and were at threat of experiencing
homelessness and becoming even more susceptible to the virus if the
moratorium wasn’t in place. A recent report by _Pew_ found
[[link removed]] that
the pandemic caused twice as many renters to fall behind on rent
payments than usual.

Advocates say that now is a terrible time
[[link removed]] to
lift the moratorium as states are rushing to distribute millions in
rental assistance that has yet to go out to renters. The pandemic is
still ongoing, and many of the people most at risk of being evicted
are also most susceptible to
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due to the virus.

_[Sharon Zhang is a news writer at Truthout.]_

_Copyright, Truthout [[link removed]]. Reprinted with
permission. May not be reprinted without permission. _

_Truthout publishes a variety of hard-hitting news stories and
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