Letter to Benjamin Carson, Secretary of Housing and Urban Development - Bonamici Leads 66 Members of Congress to Protect Millions of Americans from Eviction

Letter

Dear Secretary Carson,

As July approaches, another month's rent will soon be due for millions of Americans struggling to make ends meet. Without further action, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's (HUD) moratorium on evictions created by the bipartisan Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act will expire on July 25, 2020. This expiration will be devastating for millions of Americans and their families.

The ongoing pandemic continues to threaten the health and economic wellbeing of millions of Americans as many remain out of work or are just beginning to regain a financial foothold. We commend the Federal Housing Administration's decision to extend its moratorium on foreclosures and evictions for homeowners with FHA-insured Single-Family mortgages, but many residents of other HUD-supported housing will lose similar protections on July 25, 2020. As Congress continues to consider additional relief, we urge to you exercise your authority to extend the eviction moratorium for all residents of federally-supported housing to a full year.

Housing insecurity continues to be pervasive, particularly among communities disproportionately bearing the burdens of COVID-19. According to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse surveys in May, about 30 percent of renters had little or no confidence in their ability to pay June rent.[1] An Urban Institute study found that nearly half of working-age renters reported they "couldn't pay their rent or utilities, were experiencing food insecurity, or couldn't afford needed medical care" and that Black, Indigenous, and other Communities of Color are being hit exceptionally hard: Hispanic and Black renters were more than twice as likely as white renters to report being unable to pay their full rent or paying late in the past 30 days.[2] In the second week of May, about 50 percent of Black households said they had little or no confidence in their ability to pay June rent.[3]

These disparities will only be exacerbated and further entrenched if Congress and the Administration do not quickly take action to provide additional relief. With more than 20 million Americans in the labor market currently unemployed, including one out of every six Black workers and nearly one in five Hispanic workers, extending HUD's eviction moratorium to twelve months is a necessary step to prevent catastrophic, long-term fallout for so many families and our entire economy.[4]
We will continue working toward comprehensive solutions that address every facet of the public health and economic crises that weigh heavily on our communities. In the meantime, we strongly encourage you to extend HUD's eviction protections to keep as many Americans as possible in their homes as they strive to recover from this unprecedented pandemic.

Sincerely,