As the coronavirus has taken hold across the country, and more and more Americans are faced with staying home and/or unemployment, paying the rest is becoming increasingly more difficult.
While many states have placed a temporary moratorium on evictions, the Wall Street Journal reported that about ⅓ of renters didn’t pay their rent in April.
Experts and advocates agree that the coronavirus has not caused the housing crisis, it has only exposed it and further exacerbated the existing problems.
It is not only renters who are struggling. Landlords are also feeling the pressure of having to pay the mortgage while many are not collecting the full rent amounts.
“Which is why, at least for the short term, policy experts say governments need to provide more robust assistance to keep people economically stable and in their homes in the first place. Some experts suggested that housing subsidies or really just more cash would ease the financial burden, so renters don’t have to choose between paying rent and buying food.”