JUDY WOODRUFF: During this pandemic, we hear it repeatedly from public health officials:
Stay at home.
But many Americans don't have stable housing.
And, as William Brangham reports, a growing number of people are being forced out of their
homes because they cannot make rent payments.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Like tens of thousands of Americans right now, Rhonda Anderson and her
family are being evicted.
RHONDA ANDERSON, South Carolina: It's stressful and it's hard.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Let's back up.
Last December, Anderson's family was excited when they moved to North Charleston, South
Carolina. She and her husband had both found good jobs, and this nice rental home close
to work.
But then, three months after they moved, the pandemic hit. Anderson's husband lost his
home restoration job when the virus and the shutdown dried up all his company's projects.
RHONDA ANDERSON: My husband filed for unemployment. Didn't get no unemployment. So, basically,
it left me in a situation to do stuff by myself, try to keep food in the house and try to pay
the rent.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Rhonda took on extra hours at her job. She's the head cook at a local
nursing home.
These days, she's working up to 75 hours a week, but it still hasn't been enough to make
rent on time.
RHONDA ANDERSON: I have never been in this situation before in any way, never.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After paying the rent late in April and in May, her landlord told her
she was being evicted.
RHONDA ANDERSON: I'm asking, like, how are you going to evict us and we're still paying
our payment? He said: "I just -- I just want you all out of there."
And we didn't know why.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: The landlord said Anderson paid her rent late several times, and she
was violating her lease because her 20-year-old son wasn't on the initial paperwork. He had
come to live with her when his college closed because of the pandemic.
The CARES Act the coronavirus relief package Congress passed earlier this year, halted
evictions for anyone living in properties with federally backed mortgages. but that
only applies to about a third of renters nationwide, and it's set to expire July 25.
In addition to the federal protections, most states put a pause on all evictions when the
pandemic first hit. But those rules only postpone evictions. If tenants violate their rental
agreements, landlords can still evict them once the moratoriums expire.
And that's exactly what's happening now to people like Rhonda Anderson. When South Carolina
let its moratorium expire in May, it saw a spike in eviction filings, says Charleston
attorney Nicole Paluzzi.
NICOLE PALUZZI, Attorney: What we're seeing now is a significant bump in the nonpayment
of rent cases. And a lot of that is related to people being unemployed during COVID-19
during the shutdowns.
LAVAR EDMONDS, Princeton University: It's really kind of a perfect storm.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Princeton University's Lavar Edmonds studies evictions. He says they were
already a major problem before the pandemic.
LAVAR EDMONDS: The last 15, 20 years, you can see rents have been increasing considerably,
whereas incomes have remained relatively stagnant.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: In 2018, one in four renters in the U.S. put more than half of their income
towards rent, and about half of renters have less than $1,000 in savings.
LAVAR EDMONDS: They're paying rent, but they're sort of on the edge of something goes wrong,
and now we have got a problem.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: What's pushing many renters over that edge is the economic fallout from
the pandemic.
One recent survey found up to a third of all renters weren't able to pay rent in April.
That's causing housing advocates to warn of what they see as a worst-case scenario, a
spike in homelessness right in the middle of the pandemic.
That could expose more people to the virus, if they end up in shelters, where it's very
hard to socially distance.
But Boston Medical Center's Dr. Megan Sandel says, not having quality, stable housing is
also tied to other problems, like food insecurity and increased stress. And that can, in turn,
trigger long-term physical and mental health issues.
DR. MEGAN SANDEL, Boston Medical Center: An affordable home is like a prescription for
health. And nothing showed that more than during the epidemic. And so now is the time
to double down on stocking that housing prescription.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Like many aspects of this pandemic, people of color are also most vulnerable
when it comes to housing. Blacks and Hispanics in the U.S. are twice as likely to be renters
as whites.
And during the pandemic, black and Hispanic workers are more likely to have lost their
jobs as well.
DIANE YENTEL, President, National Low-Income Housing Coalition: Black and brown renters
are disproportionately likely to be extremely low-income. They're much more likely to be
severely cost-burdened.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Diane Yentel is president of the National Low-Income Housing Coalition.
DIANE YENTEL: As we look towards this potential wave of evictions that's coming, that, too,
will disproportionately harm black and brown renters.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: States and cities are already using federal emergency money for rental assistance.
But housing advocates say much more is needed.
Earlier this year, Houston's $15 million fund was tapped out just 90 minutes after it opened
up to applicants. Landlords are pushing for more rental assistance, too.
Doug Quattrochi is the executive director of MassLandlords, a trade association in Massachusetts.
DOUG QUATTROCHI, Executive Director, MassLandlords: Landlords don't like to evict their paying
customers or their nonpaying customers. We want to have customers, and we want to have
people occupy our housing.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Quattrochi says, when rent isn't paid, small mom-and-pop landlords like
him struggle to pay their own bills.
DOUG QUATTROCHI: Even though there's a pandemic, we still have to pay for repairs, we have
to pay for insurance, real estate taxes. Five percent of our members are insolvent, and
they're selling their buildings to get out of the business. Another 20 percent...
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: Because of this pandemic?
DOUG QUATTROCHI: Because of the pandemic, plus the resulting shutdowns and the eviction
moratorium. They can't operate anymore, and they're done.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: After going to court, Rhonda Anderson agreed to a deal with her landlord.
The landlord would apply for CARES Act rental assistance to cover the missed June rent,
and Anderson would vacate the house at the end of the month.
But the eviction wouldn't go on her record, something that could have made it harder to
rent in the future. But the quick move meant her family had to go to a hotel. Fortunately,
it's only temporary.
RHONDA ANDERSON: We found a place, but it's not open up until after the holidays. So,
we have to stay in a hotel for, like, eight days. So that's how life is at now.
WILLIAM BRANGHAM: And as evictions pick up across the country, that's how life could
soon be for thousands more Americans.
For the "PBS NewsHour," I'm William Brangham.