Pingree Demands Trump Administration Enact Protections for COVID-19 Related Evictions

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Yesterday Congresswoman Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and 43 other members of Congress Demanded that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Departments of Treasury and Agriculture protect renters from a “tsumani of evictions.”  According to a report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition, without significant support from the federal government, an estimated 30 to 40 million renters nationwide could be evicted by the end of 2020.

“The impending eviction crisis and its devastating outcomes are entirely preventable and Congress has already acted to help families in crisis.  In May, the House of Representatives passed the Heroes Act, comprehensive legislation that would provide almost  $200 billion in additional funding for  housing and homelessness progress.  The Heroes Act seeks to support and protect families by creating a $100 billion Emergency Rental Assistance Fund, extending and expanding eviction moratoriums to all renters and assisting people experiencing homelessness by providing $11. billion for Homeless Assistance Grants and $1 billion in new Section 8 vouchers.

“Evictions risk lives, drive families deeper into poverty further burden overstretched health care systems, and make it much more difficult for the country to contain the coronavirus,” the lawmakers continued.  “The price of inaction is for greater than the cost of providing essential rental assistance to households at risk of eviction and homelessness.  Keeping Americans affordably and stably housed during this pandemic is both a moral imperative and a public health necessity.”

The National Low INcome Housing Coalition estimates between 57,000 and 129,000 Mainers are at risk of eviction – meaning u to 10% of the State’s population is vulnerable.  Pingree voted on June 29, 2020 to pass H.R. 7301, which would have extended federal housing protections beyond July 25.