White House adviser asks landlords to seek rental assistance before evicting tenants

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Source: The Hill

White House economic adviser Brian Deese on Sunday called on landlords to seek rental assistance before beginning to evict tenants behind on their rent after the federal eviction moratorium ended.

"Fox News Sunday" guest host Dana Perino pressed Deese on why the Biden administration and Congress appeared to wait until the last minute to attempt to extend the moratorium, noting that Saturday night's deadline had been known for months beforehand.

"Well, the real issue here is how to get money out to renters who, through no fault of their own, are behind on their rent and to help landlords keep those renters in their home, which is a win-win," Deese said.

The federal eviction moratorium ended on Saturday at midnight, leaving millions of Americans at risk of being evicted from their homes. The Biden administration and House Democrats had sought to extend the moratorium until at least October, but failed to shore up the necessary votes among moderates.

Read more: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/white-house-adviser-asks-landlords-to-seek-rental-assistance-before-evicting-tenants/ar-AAMOkuM?ocid=DELLDHP&li=BBnbfcL

[BumRushDaShow]

1. Here in Philly

there are ordinances that --

1.) Require landlords/tenants to first go through an "Eviction diversion" mediation program before any eviction which involves both parties signing up for the ARP funding
2.) Eviction will require a court order and any who "lock" tenants out without a court order will be subject to penalties and fines and can be sued

[Me.]

2. Yeah That Will Work All Right

How about the states distributing the money they've been holding back and which was designated to help tenants facing eviction?

[BumRushDaShow]

3. I was listening to Maxine Waters' opening statement at a Rules Committee hearing on the extension

that was held this past Thursday I believe, and one of the things she brought up was that many of the states were literally "starting from scratch" trying to develop some type of system to handle the applications and distribute the money. So I think outside of any red states doing their typical stall jobs, I think others were just overwhelmed. And for example, if a state plans to contract that out (which I expect they all do if they don't already have a similar system that can be leveraged to take on that mandate), since the ARP was signed at the end of April, they had to fine-tooth comb it, and then come up with all the requirements for a database, and then put that out for bid, etc., and that can take time - normally more than 3 months. And that's not counting doing the testing on it before going live.

It's just so unfortunate that we have had to go through all this the past year and a half because of the insanity of the GOP.

Here is that hearing (I had posted in another thread, the hearing itself starts at about the 18:00 min mark, ~8:07 am on the stream's still image clock) -

[Me.]

4. KIndness Will Say They Are Overwhelmed

but this is just so damned important. Old ladies and men on canes or in chair, kids, tormented parents on the streets. It's just not right. THanks for the hearing.

[BumRushDaShow]

5. I think a lot of them

got walloped by last year's recession, the overloading of their UE systems, and the later extensions and supplements of UE under various stimulus bills... And a number were like my state's (PA) having ancient (ours was 40 years old) systems unable to handle the extra loads.

NY state is having a similar issue (I know there were threads on DU about it) -

New York Has $2.7 Billion for Rent Relief. Many Have Yet to Receive Aid.

By Mihir Zaveri
Published July 25, 2021Updated July 29, 2021

When New York launched a sweeping rent relief program in June, the aim was to safeguard the state’s recovery from the pandemic by keeping tens of thousands of people who fell behind on rent out of financial ruin and in their homes. The state set aside about $2.7 billion, the vast majority from federal pandemic relief packages, with New York providing some funding.But after nearly two months and despite the staggering need, New York has been among the slowest states in distributing help.

In fact, federal figures showed that by the end of June, New York was one of only two states where no aid had been sent out, even though the state’s eviction moratorium is set to expire in just a few weeks. State officials said that they had started distributing a small sum — $117,000 — this month to test the payment system and that more funds were expected to be sent out starting last week. The application process, which is primarily online, has been hobbled by technical glitches, according to housing groups.

Many tenants have encountered errors that in some cases wiped away entire applications. The payments covering back rent go directly to property owners, which means landlords also have to fill out forms. Many say it is difficult to upload the required paperwork, leaving applications seemingly incomplete. Housing groups say the process is overly complex, requiring too many documents, and takes a long time to complete because there is no way to save and restart an application.

Still, many tenant advocates believe the program will ultimately prove to be a crucial economic lifeline, and housing groups said it was not unusual for a mammoth new government undertaking to encounter problems. Last year, the state also had a difficult time distributing emergency federal unemployment aid, with many applicants waiting weeks or months for a check.

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/25/nyregion/new-york-city-rent-relief.html

Makes you want to go back to "old school Call Centers" but states don't want to do that anymore. Many of the people who would qualify often have little or no internet service. I know that fact was underscored last year when the schools went all-virtual and the city had to shame Comcast and Verizon into offering free home service during the school year and the school district had to provide 15,000 chromebooks for students who had no computers at home. This was seen again when it came to getting vaccinated as the appointments had to be made "online" (early on, there was no "walk up" service), and they were slow to get some kind of call-in option (due to lack of money over the years from budget cuts).

So I think if anything, what has happened the past year and a half, brought the fact that there is a high level of poverty in the U.S., out into the sunlight, and all the things that were eventually designed to supposedly be "more efficient", essentially shut out the ones most in need of those services.

[cstanleytech]

6. Can the feds tweak the tax system a bit to address the issue? Maybe make it so owners

can get a large write off any losses for property's they have where the tenants have not paid their rent but only for so long as they do not seek to evict the people for another 6 months from now?

[bucolic_frolic]

7. This is actually gold

It could get landlords to think of something other than greed. Like their tenants. And how they want to be nice. And how that evil librul ain't such a bad guy. I mean it will change a few percentage points here and there.