Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Sunday night urged President Joe Biden to restart the recently expired eviction moratorium, calling it a “moral imperative” to avoid a wave of foreclosures and evictions. Claiming that “science and reason” demand an extension of the moratorium, the House joint leadership statement said the pause “must be extended, and the funds Congress allocated to assist renters and landlords must be spent.” The moratorium has been in place since last year but was allowed to expire on July 31. Experts and advocates have warned that the country may be facing a looming eviction and foreclosure crisis with the ban’s expiration. Both federal and state governments have reportedly been struggling to distribute critical rental…
The Biden administration this week called for Congress to extend the federal eviction moratorium past its July 31 deadline, claiming the surge of the Sars-Cov-2 “Delta variant” warranted the additional protection. The administration in a press release noted that the Supreme Court had forbidden the executive branch from unilaterally extending the moratorium any longer, and that, as the court put it, “clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.” “In light of the Supreme Court’s ruling, the President calls on Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay,” Press Secretary Jen Psaki said. The administration did not specify just…
A consortium of landlords has filed a lawsuit against the federal government due to their reported losses of income over the past year amid Washington’s long-lasting eviction moratorium. The National Apartment Association filed the complaint in the court of federal claims this week. The group claimed that the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium has cost landlords “tens of billions of dollars” throughout the country. “As a result of the CDC Order and their consequent inability to exercise their constitutional property rights and contractual rights, property owners in the United States have suffered enormous economic consequences,” the suit argues. “Without limitation, while continuing to incur all costs of ownership, they have been unable to evict non-rent-paying tenants…
A new federal program meant to assist veterans pay their mortgages kicks off this week, seeking to help veteran homeowners maintain their mortgages after more than a year of the SARS-Cov-2 crisis. The VA Partial Claim Payment Program is meant to “assist Veteran borrowers specifically impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic to resume making their regular (pre-COVID) mortgage payments after exiting forbearance,” the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs says on its website. The program, which went into effect on Tuesday, July 27, is set to last until October of last year. Participants must have a VA-backed loan and must have missed at least one mortgage payment since March of last year. The VA says that for qualifying homeowners it will purchase…
Governments throughout the United States are pushing a rash of programs meant to help homeowners and renters make mortgage and rent payments. It’s part of a broad effort to stave off a potential housing crisis that some experts warn is looming over the U.S. Whether or not those measures will be enough remains to be seen. But both state governments and Washington are betting those billions in funding, as well as targeted housing policies, will forestall economic disruption at a time when the economy is just getting back on track after more than a year of a pandemic. The Biden administration this week launched a loan modification program that will “allow borrowers to move missed payments to the end of the mortgage…
The federal eviction moratorium is set to expire on July 31, raising the prospect of many thousands of renters and homeowners potentially being removed from their homes after months of being unable to make payment amid the SARS-Cov-2 crisis. Yet several states have passed their own eviction moratoriums that extend well past the expiration of the federal measure. Legal publisher Nolo has published a rundown of eviction measures in all 50 states, including which states are offering protection to tenets after the end of this month. Check and see what your state’s rules are here. Some states, such as California and New Jersey, have eviction moratoriums that last at least months after the end of the federal measure. Many others…
The Biden administration has announced a new measure meant to keep homeowners out of mortgage forbearance, offering loan modification options for the holders of certain mortgages. The federal government will require the issuers of some mortgages “to offer options that allow borrowers to move missed payments to the end of the mortgage at no additional cost to the borrower,” the White House said in a statement. The administration also announced additional measures such as a homeowner assistance fund as well as “a new security product for modified loans that would provide government agencies the flexibility to extend mortgage terms to up to 40 years.” “Homeowners with government-backed mortgages that have been negatively impacted by the pandemic will now receive enhanced…
State and local officials have reportedly struggled to distribute tens of billions of dollars in rent aid ahead of the expiration of the federal eviction moratorium at the end of this month, a problem which could lead to what commentators are warning will be an “eviction crisis.” “Bureaucratic bottlenecks” have reportedly ensnared significant portions of the $47 billion in rental aid disbursed by the federal government, the Wall Street Journal reports. Though a small handful of states will continue their own eviction moratoriums past July, the vast majority will not. “We will see a historic wave of evictions and housing instability this summer and fall,” one advocate told the Journal. A scant $3 billion in aid had been delivered as…
A federal proposal to tie housing aid to one’s race is raising the looming prospect of lawsuits. The Downpayment Toward Equity Act of 2021 would offer grants to homebuyers of up to $20,000, but an additional $5,000 would be available to “a qualified homebuyer who is a socially and economically disadvantaged individual.” The law defines such qualifying buyers as individuals within demographics “whose members have historically been subjected to racial or ethnic discrimination within the United States.” The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty told the Washington Times that it was all-but-certain to sue the federal government if the provision was passed. “If challenged in court, the agency implementing this policy would have a difficult time justifying this program, and…
The hot talk in Washington is about inflation, not interest rates. “We’re experiencing a big uptick in inflation, bigger than many expected, bigger certainly than I expected, and we’re trying to understand whether it’s something that will pass through fairly quickly or whether, in fact, we need to act,” Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told the Senate Banking Committee last week. Meanwhile, U.S. mortgage interest rates have risen since President Joe Biden took office in January according to Federal Reserve data. On the day he was inaugurated, the 30-year fixed rate was around 2.75 percent. By April 1, it had risen to 3.18 — its highest level since June of last year. Rates have been gradually declining since then but have…
