The end of eviction moratoriums and unemployment boosts are set to disproportionately oust black renters

The end of COVID-19 relief is set to bring another crisis to black Americans.

The federal CARES Act placed a national moratorium on filing eviction actions, as well as boosted unemployment payouts, but those protections are both set to expire in a few weeks. And since black and Latinx Americans are more than twice as likely to rent as white people, they're disproportionately likely to be forced out of their homes at the end of July, Politico reports.

More than 40 million Americans have filed for unemployment benefits since the coronavirus started shutting down businesses across the U.S., leading Congress to institute a $600 boost to unemployment checks and ban new eviction orders for certain kinds of housing. Some cities and states expanded that moratorium to more types of housing, and while some instituted rent freezes, back rent will still have to be paid once the freezes expire.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

A full quarter of black renters used those benefits last month, either deferring or not paying their rent, an Urban Institute analysis of Census data shows. In contrast, just 14 percent of white renters did the same. Even though the COVID-19 pandemic is still happening, and though the economy has only started to turn toward recovery, federal leaders have shown no sign of extending benefits further. It's all shaping up to put even more strain on America's homeless shelter system and send housing courts into overdrive, Axios reports, as well as expose the already-rampant shortage of affordable housing throughout the U.S.