After Begging Blacks and Latinos to Vote, Biden and Democratic Leadership Allow Eviction Moratorium to Expire, Enabling Mostly White Landlords to Evict Mostly Black and Latino Tenants

NOT A PROBLEM FOR WHITE RENTERS [WHAT IS SOCIALIST DISTANCING?] ACCORDING TO THE CENTER ON BUDGET AND POLICY PRIORITIES AN ESTIMATED 10.5 MILLION ADULTS LIVING IN RENTAL HOUSING — 14 PERCENT OF ADULT RENTERS — WERE NOT CAUGHT UP ON RENT, ACCORDING TO DATA COLLECTED MAY 26–JUNE 7.[6] HERE, TOO, RENTERS OF COLOR WERE MORE LIKELY TO REPORT THAT THEIR HOUSEHOLD WAS NOT CAUGHT UP ON RENT: 24 PERCENT OF BLACK RENTERS, 16 PERCENT OF LATINO RENTERS, AND 15 PERCENT OF ASIAN RENTERS SAID THEY WERE NOT CAUGHT UP ON RENT, COMPARED TO 10 PERCENT OF WHITE RENTERS. THE RATE WAS 19 PERCENT FOR AMERICAN INDIAN, ALASKA NATIVE, NATIVE HAWAIIAN, PACIFIC ISLANDER, AND MULTIRACIAL ADULTS TAKEN TOGETHER.

From [HERE] A nationwide moratorium on residential evictions expired on Saturday after a last-minute effort by the Biden administration to win an extension failed, putting hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk of losing shelter, while tens of billions in federal funding intended to pay their back rent sit untapped.

Data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities show that an estimated 14% of adult renters, or 10.5 million adults, are not caught up. 

People of color who rent their homes are disproportionately affected by the inability to keep up with payments: 24% of Black renters, 16% of Latino renters and 15% of Asian renters said they were not caught up on rent, compared with 10% of white renters, according to the data. 

The expiration was a humbling setback for President Biden, whose team has allegedly tried for months to fix a dysfunctional emergency rent relief program to help struggling renters and landlords. Running out of time and desperate to head off a possible wave of evictions, the White House abruptly shifted course on Thursday, throwing responsibility to Congress and prompting a frenzied — and ultimately unsuccessful — rescue operation by Democrats in the House on Friday.

The collapse of those efforts reflected the culmination of months of frustration, as the White House pushed hard on states to speed housing assistance to tenants — with mixed results — before the moratorium expired. Hampered by a lack of action by the Trump administration, which left no real plan to carry out the program, Mr. Biden’s team has struggled to build a viable federal-local funding pipeline, hindered by state governments that view the initiative as a burden and the ambivalence of many landlords.

As a result, the $47 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program, to date, disbursed only $3 billion — about 7 percent of what was supposed to be a crisis-averting infusion of cash. [MORE]

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Sunday said Democrats cannot blame Republicans for the expiration of the eviction moratorium.

"The House and House leadership had the opportunity to vote to extend the moratorium. ... We cannot in good faith blame the Republican Party when House Democrats have the majority," the progressive New York Democrat said on CNN’s “State of the Union." “This Court order came down on the White House a month ago, and the White House waited until the day before the House adjourned to release a statement asking Congress to extend the moratorium.”

Members of the Biden administration on Sunday pushed back strongly on that characterization with millions of renters who are behind in their payments at risk of homelessness after efforts to extend the moratorium fizzled ahead of a midnight deadline. Congress has sent out tens of billions of dollars to states and municipalities, meaning governors are largely responsible for establishing rental help programs. 

“Those state governments need to get it together, but we cannot kick people out of their homes when our end of the bargain has not been fulfilled. Out of the $46 billion that has been allocated, only $3 billion has gone out to help renters and small mom and pop landlords,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Ocasio-Cortez organized a sit-in Saturday at midnight in Washington, D.C., tweeting “We’re out here to extend the moratorium, so where’s Congress? It’s time we come back and #ExtendTheMoratorium.” 

The rally came after eight House lawmakers, including Ocasio-Cortez, urged President Joe Biden in a letter to extend the moratorium. There are fewer than a dozen state eviction bans in place, POLITICO reported on Friday. 

In a statement released Friday, President Joe Biden called on state and local governments "to take all possible steps to immediately disburse these funds."

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who deferred on commenting directly on a video showing Ocasio-Cortez slamming Democratic inaction on the evictions ban, said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday morning: “Let’s be clear, the administration has been acting throughout, and the president views this as a moral issue and not just a political one.”

He further cited the emergency rental assistance to state, “though it’s not necessarily getting to everyone.”

Brian Deese, director of the National Economic Council, said on Fox News on Sunday that it’s now up to the states to disperse the billions of dollars to landlords and renters: “That money is there. The states have the tools, the localities have the tools, and there’s no excuse. They need to move that money to those renters and those landlords immediately.”

Deese said the White House can extend the eviction moratorium for properties that are backed by government guarantees, like HUD, USDA and the VA. “But the key message here is that no landlord should evict without seeking that rental assistance,” Deese said.