News Roundup

  • White House Orders Eviction Ban through End of the Year
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    On Tuesday, the White House announced an eviction ban through the end of the year that would cover nearly all residential renters. The ban was issued under the authority of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Renters who cannot pay rent will be able to seek eviction protection on the CDC website. The administration did not make additional federal assistance funds available. Landlord advocate groups have joined tenant advocates to call for an additional $100 billion in direct aid to alleviate economic impacts and potential disruption of the mortgage bond market.

  • Texas Renters Seek Equitable Hurricane Recovery Allocations
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    Housing advocates report many renters in Gulf Coast cities still have not received federal rental aid following Hurricane Harvey in 2017. Texas’s General Land Office (GLO) faces a lawsuit alleging it favored wealthier homeowners over lower-income renters. GLO’s programs allocate only 25 percent of disaster funds to rebuild rental units, and no funding goes directly to renters. These policies exacerbate existing racial disparities and disadvantage neighborhoods where people of color are concentrated, reinforcing patterns of segregation.

  • Mass Movement to Suburbs Could Hurt NYC’s Budget
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    New York City is facing an exodus of residents seeking homes in surrounding suburban counties, largely because of health, safety, and quality of life concerns related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many people moving to the suburbs are middle- and high-income earners, and Maria Doulis, vice president of strategy and operations at the Citizens Budget Commission, says this income bracket “provide[s] a substantial amount of resources to the [city]” and that losing these residents represents “a blow to the budget.” Doulis says this revenue loss could hamper New York City’s economic recovery.

  • New Affordable Community Will House Health Care Workers and People Experiencing Homelessness
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    Nonprofit organization Roof Above and health care network Atrium Health are collaborating to preserve affordable housing in a community in east Charlotte, North Carolina. The first-of-its-kind program features a 341-unit building that will provide affordable housing units to essential health care workers and permanent housing and case management to people experiencing chronic homelessness. It will provide apartments affordable for people earning up to 80 percent of the area’s median income.