Temporary moratoria have protected up to 40 million coronavirus-affected US citizens from the catastrophic spread of potential evictions. But without immediate, dramatic action, the protection offered by a national moratorium will soon end, exposing millions of U.S. citizens to the national housing epidemic that preceded the COVID-19 pandemic – and which has only increased in size and scope. To prevent that from happening, we must act now. (The moratorium is currently set to expire in late June, although federal officials are now reportedly seeking an extension.)
While the signs around us point to a healthy recovery in our beloved cities of Oakland, California and Mesa, Arizona, it won’t be easy.
While the signs around us point to a healthy recovery in our beloved cities of Oakland, California and Mesa, Arizona, it won’t be easy. Before the pandemic, America was already suffering from a housing affordability epidemic, with families living in their cars and more than 580,000 people in the United States being homeless, according to the federal government. Unsurprisingly, Covid-19 made this worse, affecting black and Hispanic households more than others.
As non-partisan mayors, we have responded to continuing to invest locally to build more affordable housing, provide rental support to low-income households, implement local eviction moratoriums, and emergency systems for homelessness through programs like Project Roomkey, a California program that houses high-ranking people expand. risk that people become homeless in unused hotel and motel rooms.
These local and national eviction moratoriums and other programs have helped keep U.S. citizens in their homes and expand temporary housing as a bridge to longer-term responses. However, some are temporary solutions, and in the case of the moratoriums, they also affect landlords and others in the housing ecosystem.
We have to do more and we cannot do it alone.
We are encouraged by the American Jobs Plan, the Biden government’s $ 2.2 trillion infrastructure and redevelopment proposal that includes more than $ 210 billion in housing investment. The resources provided in the U.S. rescue plan, including $ 20 billion in emergency rental housing, $ 5 billion in 70,000 new home vouchers, and $ 10 billion in homeowner assistance, are valued and are helping hard-hit families in our cities and hundreds others across the country. Like the earlier facilitations in the CARES Act, these funds will have an impact, and they suggest that the federal government is responding on a large scale for the first time in decades. And while negotiations between our non-partisan elected counterparts continue on Capitol Hill, they cannot distract us from reality. Now is the time for America to think big, and our coalition of 33 bipartisan mayors and business leaders have made five recommendations for expanding the current government and other congressional plans into lasting policies that would bring long-term and lasting benefit to America.
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First we need to scale what works. We need to support and increase funds for existing federal programs that have proven to be effective, including the provision of Section 8 Apartment Choice Vouchers for all eligible households, emergency aid grants that help people regain stable living conditions after a housing crisis or homelessness, community development block grants that contribute to the development of communities through better housing and better economic opportunities for low and middle income people. We can also build on the successful Housing and Urban Development (HUD) – Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing model and create a similar joint program of HUD, Health and Human Services to help families and individuals who are homeless and have mental health problems have other barriers to support.
Second, we need to treat housing as infrastructure, as Canada, Australia and many European countries do. Congress and administration should set themselves ambitious goals and expand instruments and financing in order to stimulate the private market and accelerate the production of affordable housing at extremely low income levels. Any legislation should also provide incentives for new housing developments near busy work centers and transport hubs.
Third, we have to stop homelessness before it happens. America needs to invest in cost-effective strategies to prevent insecure families from becoming homeless in the first place by expanding recent successful efforts, such as the existing Emergency Rental Assistance Program, the one-off, short-term emergency housing assistance for very low-income households that have no upholstery in the event of a housing emergency.
Fourth, we need to cut red tape. We can get more done, and faster, if we allow greater local flexibility to make existing state housing programs more effective. We should also urge HUD to consider changes to regulations that will make resource allocation fairer, provide flexibility in funding innovative housing and shelter models, and improve access to private housing.
Finally, America should invest in new ideas. The US invented jazz, baseball, and the Internet. Why can’t we create a program that encourages new funding for innovative affordable housing models and building techniques that support new projects in local communities?
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We are mayors of different parties, but we both agree that housing resources are an investment, not a cost, that can help keep more of our neighbors safe and affordable as the country works to end the affordability epidemic in this one Area to reverse pandemic. They can be another powerful shot in the arm for America’s better future.
source https://dailyhealthynews.ca/covid-eviction-moratorium-deadline-highlights-another-american-epidemic/
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