PA Moratorium on Evictions Expired on August 31—Act to Protect Tenants

From We the People PA (http://wethepeoplepa.org/):

On Monday, August 31, the moratorium on evictions expired. This could mean nearly a million Pennsylvanians may face homelessness if action isn’t taken.

This week, Governor Wolf told legislative leaders that he does not have the authority to extend the moratorium on evictions and foreclosure beyond the August 31 deadline. This decision sets the state on the path of a humanitarian and economic disaster. As the governor’s letter to the Senate points out, the General Assembly can, and must, take action to prevent that disaster from coming to pass. Go to https://actionnetwork.org/letters/tell-your-pa-state-legislators-stop-evictions-now to tell our legislators to protect everyone from eviction!

The pandemic has left many Pennsylvanians short of the funds needed to pay their rent. But they have not been subject to eviction because of the moratorium on evictions ordered initially by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court and then by Governor Wolf under the authority of the state of emergency. Once the moratorium ends on Monday, those who cannot pay current and back rent will be subject to eviction.

There are 5.7 million households in Pennsylvania of which 31% are renters. If 20% are subject to eviction, then 355,432 households may lose their homes soon after the moratorium ends. The average household in Pennsylvania has 2.48 members. That means that as many as 881,449 people will be homeless.

The threat of eviction can affect anyone. It doesn’t matter if you are Black, brown, or white; native-born or immigrant; Asian or Latinx; poor or rich. It doesn’t matter whether you live in a city, the suburbs, or rural areas, or in one region of the state or another.

Without legislative action, we are soon going to see an extraordinary crisis of evictions and homelessness.

To stop it, the General Assembly must enact legislation that

• reinstates the eviction moratorium at least through the end of the year.
• makes the rental assistance program easier to access, raises the cap on monthly rent, and adds $100 million to the program.
• requires landlords to make payment agreements with tenants that allow them to pay their back rent over the course of a year.
• provides funding for tenant counseling and legal services.

The time for bipartisan action to relieve the coming housing catastrophe is NOW.

Please join us and write a letter.

Read our most recent Opinion Editor piece on the housing crisis here.