Letter to Mitch McConnell, Senate Majority Leader; Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the House; Chuck Schumer, Senate Minority Leader; and Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader - Rep. Cisneros Joins 42 House Members Asking Congressional Leaders to Include Emergency Rental and Mortgage Assistance in the Next Stimulus Package

Letter

To Senate Majority Leader McConnell, House Speaker Pelosi, Senate Minority Leader Schumer,
and House Minority Leader McCarthy:

The economic crisis caused by COVID-19 is deepening and communities across the country face
an avalanche of evictions as tenant protections expire and unpaid rent is due. As Congress
negotiates the next stimulus package, we urge leadership to include $100 billion for emergency
rental assistance funds to allow tenants to stay in their homes. This vital provision passed the
House twice in the HEROES Act and the Emergency Housing Protections and Relief Act, and it
should be enacted into law.

Congress must alleviate the burden of rent as our constituents must decide between putting food
on the table or a roof over their head. Though the CARES Act included an important temporary
eviction moratorium for some eligible tenants, it did nothing to stop unpaid rent from piling up.
The solution is simple: The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that $100 billion
in rental assistance is necessary to avoid the devastation of affordable housing infrastructure in
our communities as eviction moratoriums are lifted at the end of this crisis and back-rent is due.

The unemployment rate is the highest it has been in decades and housing insecurity is growing--
the need for Congressional action is becoming clearer as more information becomes available. In
May the Census Bureau published survey results finding that nearly a quarter of respondents said
they missed their last rent or mortgage payment or had little or no confidence they could make
their next payment. Researchers at the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project estimate that as
many as 20% of U.S. renters could face eviction by September.

We urge you to keep the $100 billion in emergency rental assistance funds that passed the House
in the next COVID-19 relief package. Families across the country should not be forced to choose
between foregoing food or medicine in order to pay rent.

Sincerely,