I recently watched the newest episode of comedian and political commentator Hasan Minhaj’s Netflix show, Patriot Act, which chooses various issues around the world to investigate while enlightening the public in a creative but still informative manner. This week, after a long break because of the coronavirus, the episode entitled “What happens if you can’t pay rent?” caught my attention.
As many students have gone home due to the pandemic, rent has more than likely affected their lives in one way or another. Whether you pay rent yourself, with roommates or are under your parent’s roof again, rent, as well as mortgage payments, is on the mind of someone close to you. As unemployment rates rise, more and more people are wondering how they are going to afford what usually takes up most of their paycheck.
Rent freezing has become a popular topic amidst the coronavirus, and it has people’s attention when it comes to solutions to help citizens navigate this economic crisis.
Large states like New York and California acted quickly to support residents who are struggling to afford rent, who would otherwise face eviction.The governor of New York, Andrew Cuomo, extended the moratorium on evictions for two more months, now ending Aug. 20. In addition, rent freezes were approved for about 1 million renters and landlords who qualify. The Los Angeles City Council also extended rent freezes for 12 months past their original expiration date in May.
In smaller states such as North Carolina, the decision is up to individual landlords, making for even more anxiety among renters, even though there is a statewide moratorium on evictions in place. This means that people cannot be removed from their homes for non-payment of rent in North Carolina during the pandemic.
However, many are asking how effective rent freezing and moratorium on evictions will prove to be in the long run with the uncertainty of the current economy. With these enforcements only in place temporarily, residents and researchers are concerned about what will happen once they are lifted. In an interview with ABC11 Eyewitness News, Seth Friedman, the CEO of the company Passage Home, which owns affordable housing in Wake County, said, “The rent payments are not being forgiven but deferred…So what’s going to happen at the end of 30 days, 60 days, 90 days, whenever this moratorium on evictions is removed, low-income families will be asked to pay several months of rent at one time. So what we’ll see at the end of this moratorium is an eviction spike and an increase of homelessness.”
The Patriot Act episode I mentioned concluded with Minhaj speaking about a link to the website Don’t Get Kicked Out, where “you can see if your building qualifies for the federal moratorium, look up up the eviction protections in your state, and if you have to go to housing court, there’s a link to help you find a lawyer.”
Perhaps a complete dismissal or federal loan for landlord’s property expenses during the pandemic would allow for both tenants and landlords to be relieved of the mess that is to come after rent freezes and moratorium on evictions end. As long as landlords have to pay for the properties their tenants are living in, rent freezes will only cause them to fall behind on their payments as well.
With this dark glimpse into the future, rent freezing and moratorium on evictions could potentially create even more problems for tenants to handle. It very well might not be beneficial for North Carolina to join the rent freeze strategy to assist renters. Instead, the state needs to find a more solid solution that will help tenants and landlords stay above water both during and after the pandemic.
