Evicted During the Pandemic

The Daily

The New York Times

Daily News, News

4.4 • 102.8K Ratings

🗓️ 18 December 2020

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

For years there has been an evictions crisis in the United States. The pandemic has made it more acute. On today’s episode, our conversations with a single mother of two from Georgia over several months during the pandemic. After she lost her job in March, the bottom fell out of her finances and eviction papers started coming. The federal safety net only stretched so far. And we ask, with Congress seeking to pass another stimulus bill, what do the next few months hold for renters in the United States? Guest: Matthew Desmond, a Professor of Sociology at Princeton University and contributing writer for The Times Magazine. For an exclusive look at how the biggest stories on our show come together, subscribe to our newsletter. You can read the latest edition here. Background reading: Emergency pandemic funding to help renters must be distributed by Dec. 30. But getting the money to those who need it is no small task.Residents of weekly rentals worry they will be kicked out if they can’t pay the rent. It’s unclear if the federal moratorium on evictions applies to them. For more information on today’s episode, visit nytimes.com/thedaily

Transcript

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0:00.0	From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bavaro. This is The Daily.
0:10.0	As Congress closes in on a new round of pandemic relief, a major question is what it will do
0:18.0	to protect millions of Americans from eviction.
0:22.0	Today, my colleagues Stella Tan and Matthew Desmond, on one family's struggle,
0:29.0	to hold on to their home. It's Friday, December 18th.
0:41.0	Right now, one thing that's really been on a lot of people's minds is rent.
0:45.0	There is extreme anxiety among those who don't have income flowing in right now.
0:49.0	There is nearly one third of people who rent their home in the United States
0:54.0	did not pay their April rent.
0:56.0	It's been emblazoned on the side of some office building to cancel the rent.
1:00.0	But what do you do with all the landlords who have mortgages themselves?
1:04.0	Mortgages do, the rent is do.
1:06.0	Now, if you live in federally funded housing, there has been a 120 day freeze on evictions.
1:12.0	The moratoriums buy you time that will require you to eventually pay the landlord for any rent past due.
1:19.0	They do not pay the full balance of their rent.
1:22.0	And that's when eviction proceedings could take place.
1:26.0	In the meantime, what do you do if you can't pay your rent tomorrow?
1:36.0	Hello.
1:38.0	Hello.
1:39.0	You're hello. This is Yolanda.
1:41.0	How are you?
1:42.0	This is Stella from the New York Times. How are you?
	...

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