On Monday, the White House pressured states and local communities to prevent the eviction of financially struggling tenants, following the expiration of a deadline on Sunday that protected millions of Americans from being kicked out of their homes due to missed rent payments during the health crisis. This comes as the Delta variant has led to a resurgence in COVID-19 cases in the United States.
Several states have already taken measures to protect their residents until the end of the month, impacting about one-third of American renters, but White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki emphasized the need for "action" in other states. Biden called on all states and local communities to implement measures to protect tenants "for at least the next two months."
The White House is particularly focused on expediting the distribution of the funds allocated by the Biden administration in early February to help renters pay their rents. Additionally, it aims to "explore all available means of the federal government to pressure states and local communities" to distribute these funds.
There have been delays in the arrival of promised federal funds to assist renters with their rent payments. The funds are allocated to states and local communities, which are then responsible for distributing assistance to families. However, this requires the establishment of sophisticated systems for processing applications, verifying individual circumstances, and disbursing funds. Consequently, only three billion dollars have reached families out of the 46 billion dollars approved by the government, with 25 billion dollars disbursed in early February.
According to estimates from the "Center on Budget and Policy Priorities," an independent research institute, more than ten million people are behind on their rent payments. Approximately 3.6 million renters consider themselves at risk of eviction within two months, according to a study by the Census Bureau that included 51 million renters as of early July.
The deadline to halt eviction proceedings, which had been extended multiple times, expired at midnight on Saturday. This deadline was implemented for health reasons related to the pandemic. Amid an economic recovery that is not benefiting all families equally in the United States, rents have increased by 8.1% between June 2020 and June 2021, according to the real estate website "Realtor."
