October 29, 2020

From early September to mid-October, large corporate landlords in Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, and Texas have filed nearly 10,000 eviction actions—despite the federal eviction moratorium. Large landlords filing evictions include companies like Invitation Homes, which leases 80,000 homes and whose earnings increased 54 percent the first half of this year. “The decisions of large companies to advance evictions despite the moratorium quite literally threatens the health of residents and the broader public,” said Jim Baker, executive director of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project.

Racist housing covenants attached to deeds stipulating who can occupy a home still exist, even though they haven't been enforced for generations. Many include racist and anti-Semitic language. For example, Historian Mara Cherkasky found that about 20,000 racially restrictive covenants still exist in Washington, DC. But new laws in Maryland are making it easier for homeowners to go to court and have these covenants removed for free.

On Monday, a federal judge stopped the US Department of Housing and Urban Development from implementing a rule that would have made it harder to prove discrimination under the Fair Housing Act. The rule was set to take effect on Monday, but it won’t be implemented until this legal challenge is resolved.

Years ago, Sandi Barros experienced a mental health episode that caused her to lose her Walmart job, and, eventually, she couldn’t pay rent. Then she found the Delores Project, a homeless shelter that does more than house people. In addition to providing shelter for women, transgender people, and gender nonconforming people experiencing homelessness, the program finds residents a more permanent place to live as quickly as possible and connects residents to mental health services, job training, and more. “We really are focused on low-barrier, housing-first shelter,” said Stephanie Miller, the Delores Project chief executive officer.