Eviction Filings Increase , As Pandemic Rental Aid , Programs End.<br />NPR reports that emergency rental aid <br />helped millions of people keep their <br />homes amid the COVID-19 pandemic. .<br />This summer, the end of that federal program <br />is expected to have allocated the entire <br />$46 billion provided by Congress. .<br />As a result of funds already running out <br />in some places, eviction filings are spiking.<br />NPR points out that these support programs <br />are running out of funding amid skyrocketing <br />housing costs and record inflation. .<br />So far, aid programs in Minnesota, <br />California, Connecticut, New Jersey <br />and Texas have already shut down. .<br />Our tenants are having to decide <br />between buying food for their children <br />or their elderly parents, or paying rent. <br />And that's a real tight squeeze, Dana Karni, Lone Star Legal Aid in Houston, via NPR.<br />Our tenants are having to decide <br />between buying food for their children <br />or their elderly parents, or paying rent. <br />And that's a real tight squeeze, Dana Karni, Lone Star Legal Aid in Houston, via NPR.<br />Eviction rates have been on the rise since the national moratorium on evictions ended last August. .<br />Diane Yentel, who heads the National Low Income Housing <br />Coalition, warns that the current state of affairs threatens <br />to leave many people "one financial shock" away <br />from potential eviction or even homelessness. .<br />The longer we go past the time <br />the eviction protections or resources <br />are gone, the more we're seeing in some <br />of these cities, eviction filing rates reach <br />150%, 200% of pre-pandemic averages, Diane Yentel, Heads of the National Low <br />Income Housing Coalition, via NPR.<br />Yentel points out that even before the pandemic, <br />millions of low-income households were already <br />using at least half of their income for rent. .<br />According to Redfin, <br />the cost of rent has risen <br />17% in the last year alone.
