According to Census data, approximately 21% of renter households are behind on rent payment, and it’s estimated that up to 40 million renters could face eviction over the next few months after federal eviction moratoriums expired in late July.
Now, states and localities are deciding if and when to end or extend eviction moratoriums. Today, eviction moratoriums are expiring in Atlanta and Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, they will expire in Nevada, California and Florida.
In Pennsylvania, a Census survey said that one in five adults either missed July’s rent or mortgage payment or had slight or no confidence their household could make their rent payment in August in time, the Philadelphia Inquirer said.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf hinted on Monday that he supports a second extension of the moratorium, pending approval from the General Assembly.
In Nevada, an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 renters could face eviction due to owed rent or back pay, KTNV in Las Vegas said, flooding courts with three times as many eviction cases as last September.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis signaled that he might extend the eviction moratorium – for the fifth time – on Tuesday, when the fourth extension is set to expire.
California’s eviction moratorium is set to end on Tuesday, but Gov. Gavin Newsom introduced a new bill on Friday that could likely save renters facing eviction, pending approval from lawmakers.
What about the rent payments due on Tuesday?
RealPage said that it expects rent collections for September to continue to slump since states are paying only up to $400 more a week for unemployment benefits after the original $600 unemployment payment from the CARES Act expired in July.
When August rent payments came due, only 79.3% of apartment households had made a full or partial rent payment by August 6. This is down 1.9 percentage points from August 2019.
However, that number had risen to 92.1% of renters paying by Aug. 27, according to the National Multifamily Housing Council’s Rent Payment Tracker. This is 1.9 percentage points less than the same time last year.
