Thirty to 40 million Americans may face eviction as state and federal eviction bans expire in January or sooner, according to federal government figures.
The bans were imposed as tens of millions of Americans lost their jobs last spring; many bans were temporarily renewed in late summer. Millions of renters, however, are still jobless, have spent their savings, and remain unable to pay their rent.
Landlords, facing overdue property tax bills and lenders’ demands for mortgage payments, are becoming more likely to toss out renters unable to pay in hopes of finding new tenants who can.
About 25 percent of U.S. renters owe back rent, according U.S. census bureau figures.
Even some higher-income renters are beginning to fall behind, with tardy rents in more costly apartments increasing 7 percent from April to August this year compared to the same period in 2019, a Wall Street Journal analysis showed.
Missed rents could total as much as $7.2 billion by the end of this year, according to a late October study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
A forecast from Moody’s Analytics is more dire.
Without more government aid to households, unpaid rent could total $70 billion by 2021, the company said, leaving 12.8 million Americans owing an average of $5,400 in back rent.
That figure almost quadruples the number of households foreclosed on from 2007 through 2010 during the Great Recession, according to the Wall Street Journal.
TREND FORECAST: Billions of dollars in unpaid rent, especially coupled to millions of newly homeless people, is clear evidence of the dire economic straits affecting large segments of populations across the globe.
While there is strong support to prohibit evictions by various political groups, virtually unmentioned is the economic pain being inflicted on landlords who must pay taxes and mortgages despite not receiving tenant payments. Thus, many will be hard hit by the revenue loss and will lose their properties in foreclosure.
