43 Million Americans at Risk of Eviction as Relief Programs and Moratorium Expire: "It's a Nightmare"

With Congress deadlocked on a new coronavirus relief package, a moratorium on evictions in federally backed housing expired last week. The moratorium covered more than twelve million households or about 30% of all renters, but the total number of Americans possibly facing eviction is much higher. All renters are now subject to state laws, and there's a patchwork of eviction policies that vary by state.

Thirty states currently allow evictions to continue during the pandemic. Asked if there could be a tsunami of evictions as eviction bans start to phase out across the country, housing lawyer Dennericka Brooks said, "I don't think that tsunami can adequately capture the number of cases that we anticipate seeing." Brooks, who is the director of housing at Legal Aid Chicago, thinks it will be worse.

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