The Great Eviction Crisis That Never Was

Rachel Siegel and Jonathan O’Connell at The Washington Post write that experts are wondering why the feared eviction ‘tsunami’ has not yet happened…(Washington Post)

  • Why did they think their would be an eviction crisis? When the Supreme Court decided to strike down a federal ban on evictions in August a recent estimate by experts at the Aspen Institute estimated that renters behind on their payments could be as high as 15 million.
  • What did happen? Nothing. In fact, in major metropolitan areas the number of eviction filings has actually dropped or remained flat since the Supreme Court ruling last month.
  • What happened to the crisis? One reason offered by tenant advocates and legal experts is that many people who fall behind on payments choose to “self evict.” Others theorize that local laws offer protections from imminent evictions. For example, “47 percent of renters live in places that still have some type of protection or policy in place…”

The Rest of the Story…

TYLER’S TAKE: One theory that never seems to get any play is that maybe landlords aren’t the coldhearted bastards that Hollywood makes them out to be. Maybe they want to help people stay in their homes and the eviction moratorium being lifted is now forcing renters to actually open a dialogue with their landlords. This way they are finding a way to pay their rent and stay in their homes. Imagine that…