NMHC agrees with the Supreme Court ruling to end the nationwide eviction moratorium. At the onset of the pandemic, NMHC supported a voluntary, short-term halt to evictions to keep families safely and securely housed. However, a long-term eviction moratorium was never the right policy. It does nothing to speed the delivery of real solutions for America’s renters and ignores the unsustainable and unfair economic burden placed on millions of housing providers, jeopardizing their financial stability and threatening the loss of affordable housing stock nationwide.
Early on during the health crisis, NMHC urged Congress to create a federal rental assistance program to prevent it from also becoming a housing crisis. Congress finally heard our calls and late last year enacted the Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP). NMHC has continued to work with the Administration and Congress to improve the execution of the rental assistance program.
This aid, as well as the rest of the $4 trillion of economic relief circulating through the economy, has allowed many apartment residents to continue to meet their financial obligations. However, we believe state and local governments must do more to remove barriers to getting this critical relief in the hands of renters in need.
Moreover, housing providers continue to make tremendous sacrifices to aid their residents. A recent survey of multifamily firms found that 100% of firms offered eviction mitigation programs, including:
- Payment plans – 100%
- Waived late fees – 96%
- Deferred payments – 78%
- Extended, shortened or other changes to lease terms – 58%
- Cash for keys (compensation for vacating a unit) – 54%
- Fee-free ability to charge rent on credit card – 50%
The survey also asked what additional steps firms took to support residents during the pandemic:
- Increased cleaning and sanitation – 95%
- Connecting residents with food banks, charities and other local support resources – 86%
- Informing residents of healthcare protocols and best practices – 86%
- Hosting virtual social or exercise events – 57%
- Creating on-site services at communities to support residents – 50%
- Made it easier to work from home – 49%
Multifamily firms remain committed to keeping residents safely in their homes. The Council also issued two new customizable templates housing providers can use to help inform residents about the availability of rental assistance (in English and Spanish). Those can be found on NMHC’s COVID-19 online Hub. Information for renters is available here, and housing providers is available here. Additional materials and resources on COVID-19 can be found here.
Based in Washington, D.C., the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) is the leadership of the apartment industry. We bring together the prominent owners, managers and developers who help create thriving communities by providing apartment homes for 40 million Americans, contributing $3.4 trillion annually to the economy. NMHC provides a forum for insight, advocacy and action that enables both members and the communities they help build to thrive. For more information, contact NMHC at 202/974-2300, email the Council at info@nmhc.org.
Staff Resource
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