The federal government has allocated more than $45 billion in assistance to help Americans behind on their rent due to the pandemic, but so far only about 11% of the money has been disbursed. With the eviction moratorium set to expire in early October - or sooner, depending on how the US Supreme Court rules - millions of renters could be out on the streets in a matter of weeks if this money doesn't get into the hands of the public. Ring of Fire's Farron Cousins explains what's happening.
Link - https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/25/us/politics/eviction-rental-assistance.html?
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*This transcript was generated by a third-party transcription software company, so please excuse any typos.
The United States Supreme Court could rule any day now on whether or not the extended eviction moratorium is in fact constitutional and whether the centers for disease control and prevention has the authority to put the eviction moratorium in place. But until then, the moratorium is set to expire, I believe on October 3rd. So we've got a little over a month before over 1 million people face eminent eviction with another 4 million, not far behind them and the federal government as part of two different stimulus packages that have been passed, made a fund of $46.5 billion to help struggling renters be able to pay their rent in order to avoid eviction. And a new report this week shows that only 11% of that money has actually been doled out, only 11% of that 46 and a half billion dollars has actually made it out there to struggling renters. Here's the numbers, 2.8 million households have applied for aid, but only about 500,000 reported receiving assistance. Another one and a half million are waiting for approvals while nearly 700,000 have already been rejected.
The treasury wants to speed things up. They've, they've announced rules to make the process a little easier for cities and states who are basically controlling the process, make it easier for them to get people their money. But then of course you have Republicans in their ear saying, well, now hold up there slim. You don't want to make it easier because then that makes it, you know, oh, it's easier for people to come and commit fraud and get money when they don't need it. But to their credit, the Biden administration appears to be saying, we don't care. The fraud is minuscule compared to the number of people that could be out on the streets in the middle of a global pandemic, because they can't pay their rent. Here's what I think should happen and typically, I am against any form of lobbying, to be honest with you because corporations have the upper hand, but we do know that you've got these realtor associations who own all these properties that they're not getting paid rent for right now.
They're the ones who basically, who actually filed the case to try to get the eviction moratorium overturned in court, um, how about they go and they spend some of that money lobbying these Republicans and if there's any Democrats, you know, holding up the process, lobby them to, to get that money out there because realtors association that's your money, by the way. Okay. These individuals who are getting this federal assistance to pay their rent, they're not using it to go out and buy fancy dinners or fancy cars. They're using it to pay you and y'all are all out there right now about not getting your money. They have your money. The cities and states, they have your money. So go get it from them. So that one, we can prevent people from getting out on the streets from being forced into homelessness, because the pandemic destroyed their financial security.
And two, of course, you get to get your money. Everybody wins. Everybody's happy. But so far, this program has been absolutely pathetic. The execution of it has been ridiculous. I have heard stories, I have had people email me, reach out to me on social media, telling me their horror stories of going through this ridiculous process that is taking some of them months before they can finally get approval.
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