Category: COVID Coronavirus

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Evictions

Housing Industry Letter to President Trump

NAR and other industry partners sent this to the President this afternoon – message “Rental Assistance and Eviction  Moratorium- Can’t do one without the other!

August 7, 2020 

The President
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave, NW Washington, DC 20500 

Dear Mr. President: 

The undersigned national associations that represent for-profit and non-profit owners, developers, managers, housing cooperatives and housing agencies involved in providing affordable rental and cooperative housing to millions of American families urge you to take meaningful action now to protect the housing stability of millions of American families impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The relief provided by the CARES Act was successful in helping Americans meet their housing needs, and we strongly urge the Administration to support critically needed policies as you consider further action.

As you know, over 54 million Americans have filed initial claims for unemployment since the beginning of the pandemic, and many are struggling to pay everyday expenses – chief among them, rent. As the pandemic drags on, the country’s 109 million renters are expected to be disproportionately impacted because they are more likely to work in industries hardest hit by layoffs. In fact, the Census Bureau estimates that 46 percent of all renters are currently unemployed. Moreover, as the crisis continues and renters’ savings are depleted, these ongoing challenges will interfere with renters’ ability to pay their rent: Nearly 24 million people have little or no confidence in their ability to pay next month’s rent, according to the Census Bureau. 

If residents are unable to pay their rent, housing providers will also be unable to meet their mortgage obligations, fund their payrolls and pay their property taxes to state and local governments that have been hardest hit by the pandemic. That, in turn, is likely to catalyze a chain of events with potentially devastating financial and economic effects.

We urge you to consider two items of great importance to the housing sector:

• Financial Assistance/Emergency Rental Assistance â€“ Renters impacted by the pandemic need federal rental assistance to continue meeting their financial obligations. Federal and state unemployment assistance benefits have helped many renters make their rent, but without that supplemental assistance or another financial lifeline, many will not be able to meet their financial obligations. An extension of now-expired federal unemployment benefits, in conjunction with direct rental assistance for those not able to access those funds, is necessary to protect the housing stability of millions of Americans.

A variety of rental assistance proposals have emerged, and our groups urge policymakers to ensure whichever delivery mechanism(s) is chosen, swiftly distributes funding at the property-level, while also protecting struggling renters at all income levels and geographic regions including urban, suburban and rural areas throughout the country.

• Eviction Moratorium â€“ The CARES Act included a temporary eviction moratorium that responded to the immediate uncertainties and difficulties at the outset of this crisis. Today, we better understand the scope of the housing challenges we face and must establish long-term solutions to avert serious damage to America’s renters and housing providers. An extended eviction moratorium is not the answer to the financial distress that renters may experience and could in fact cause considerable injury to the housing sector as a whole. 

A protracted eviction moratorium is unsustainable and does nothing to address a renter’s underlying financial distress or risk of housing insecurity. In contrast, the creation of a robust rental assistance program, as outlined above, or other financial aid would provide real support for American families, while also helping preserve critical stability for property owners. An eviction moratorium without a federal funding commitment creates conditions for a systemic market failure where lost, and likely irrecoverable, rent payments jeopardize property owners’ ability to maintain critical property operations and ensure the ongoing financial viability of the property. These efforts put the stability of the entire rental housing sector in danger and further complicate our shared efforts to address long- standing housing affordability challenges across the nation.

As you continue your work to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, it is clear that continued direct financial support and emergency rental assistance provide solutions for residents and housing providers alike and are necessary to help those with financial hardships, without undermining the stability of the housing market and the financial health of our communities. By taking meaningful action now, the Administration can keep roofs over families’ heads, save small businesses and pull the country back from an emerging housing crisis.

Sincerely, 

CCIM Institute
Council for Affordable and Rural Housing
Institute of Real Estate Management
Manufactured Housing Institute
National Affordable Housing Management Association National Apartment Association
National Association of Home Builders
National Association of Housing Cooperatives 

National Association of REALTORS
National Leased Housing Association
National Multifamily Housing Council
Mortgage Bankers Association 

cc: Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin White House Coronavirus Task Force

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Housing policies Recovery

Congress MUST Protect Renters & Housing

Read the National Housing Coalition letter  to Congress and the Senate. It is a worthy read, even if you are disinclined to reach out to your elected officials, but you should call/write your Senator and Congressperson.

Who are my Senator and Congressperson, you ask?

Find my Congressperson
Find my Senator

No harm in asking your local elected officials to support these efforts as well. You can find your State Senator and Representative on the Wisconsin Legislature home page. The search box is on the right, just below the picture. Tell them you understand they do not directly control Federal legislation, but ask if they could please talk to their party about this.

Also no harm in presenting this to your local elected officials. They hold more political power than many believe. In Milwaukee those folks are:
Mayor Barrett
Common Council
County Supervisors

What are you waiting for… Go make some noise! 😉

Protecting renters and housing
Categories
COVID Coronavirus Evictions Housing policies Housing Stats

Brookings Institute: Halting evictions isn’t as good as it sounds

Halting evictions during the coronavirus crisis isn’t as good as it sounds

Read the whole thing, but here are some tasty nuggets

To protect renters from losing their homes, a growing number of cities and states have put a temporary halt on evictions, meaning that landlords cannot evict tenants who fall behind on their rent. While this may buy renters more time, a moratorium on evictions could cause ripple effects that further hurt local economies. But there is a more effective way to help renters by giving them cash that replaces lost income, while also supporting small businesses and local governments.

RENT HAS IMPORTANT MULTIPLIER EFFECTS IN THE LOCAL ECONOMY

Rent checks don’t just line the pockets of fat cat landlords—they also contribute to essential government services and other workers’ wages. If many households are simultaneously unable to pay rent, the economic impacts will be felt throughout the local economy.

…

The first entity that gets paid by a monthly rent check isn’t the landlord—it’s the local government. Property taxes have a higher priority even than mortgages; if a landlord falls behind on both property taxes and mortgage payments, the local government’s claim supersedes the lender’s.

Landlords are also responsible for paying building-wide utilities, including water and sewer fees, garbage and recycling collection, or gas and electricity for common areas. These are essential services that must remain functional even during the pandemic.

Additionally, many of the expenses incurred by landlords are actually the wages of other workers. Keeping an apartment building functioning, safe, and clean requires the efforts of maintenance and housekeeping staff. Larger buildings typically employ on-site workers, but even small properties have ongoing needs which they may outsource to local contractors, like plumbers or electricians. As rent payments dwindle, small landlords will defer some maintenance needs—which means poorer quality housing for all tenants in the building and loss of employment for maintenance workers.

 

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Evictions Housing Stats Milwaukee Recovery

WisEye Eviction Panel Discussion

The recording is at:

Newsmakers: Evictions in Wisconsin During COVID-19

It was a great program, and worth watching.

Discussion topics

  • Statistical comparison of eviction numbers from the first six months of 2019 vs. 2020.
  • A forecast for the remainder of 2020 for landlords and tenants.
  • Potential long-term effects on housing as a result of COVID-19. 
  • Potential fallout from a national eviction moratorium.
  • The rent strike movement’s effects on potential investors in rental property.

Discussion panelists

WisconsinEye senior producer Steve Walters will host the panel discussion with the following panelists:

  • Heiner Giese, lobbyist for the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW)
  • Chris Mokler, director of legislative affairs for the Wisconsin Apartment Association (WAA)
  • Colleen Foley, executive director for the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee
  • Joe Murray, director of political and governmental affairs for the WRA
Categories
Collections COVID Coronavirus Evictions

$22 Billion in lost rent predicted over the next four months

An article from Bloomberg that concisely lays out the two main problems facing rental housing and tenants.

The U.S. had a pretty “stingy” safety net when it came to housing before the pandemic, said Mary Cunningham, vice president of the Metropolitan Housing and Communities Policy Center at the Urban Institute.

….

But over the long-term, rental revenue will decline because of missed payments and lower occupancy as tenants look to save money by doubling up with others, Pawlowski said. Landlords could end up missing more than $22 billion in rent over the next four months, according to the Stout analysis.

$22 Billion in loses will impact rental housing costs and availability for years

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Evicted - Matt Desmond Evictions Uncategorized

WRA Podcast on Evictions

A recent Wisconsin Realtor Association podcast featuring Tom Larson and Tim Ballering.

https://www.wra.org/CapitolInsights/Episode5/

We have all heard reports that say residential rental evictions surged due to the Wisconsin eviction moratorium expiration in May.

The real numbers show a 30% decline for the first six months of 2020 versus 2019. How can this be true, you ask?

Listen in as WRA chief lobbyist Tom Larson and residential rental expert Tim Ballering from the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin (AASEW) break down the actual numbers and provide valuable insights into the eviction issue in Wisconsin.

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Evicted - Matt Desmond Evictions Housing policies

A National Evictions Cliff Is Coming?

A tsunami, an avalanche, a flood, a pandemic, and now a cliff of evictions.

No wonder no one tries to fix the root causes… some see it as a natural disaster, rather than something that with diligence can be fixed in a manner that is good for both tenants and housing.

When Desmond started, he had a great goal – universal housing vouchers, similar to food stamps, for people in need. But along the way, Matt was abducted by the Eviction Defense gang, a zero-sum game where individual tenants have small wins at the expense of the greater good for all tenants and housing.

Rather than eviction “defense,” which harms other tenants and housing by passing the cost burden to both, the better solution is eviction “prevention.” Even the recipients of the eviction defense come out of it with damaged rental histories. Excluding the attorneys, there are no long-term winners, only multiple losers.

Often eviction defense results in a tenant being able to stay for an extra month without paying rent. I wonder if there would be similar or better results if the money spent on eviction defense attorneys is used to pay a month or two of rent.

How many tenants have multiple evictions, or move without fulfilling their rental agreement every few years? Some get parents and friends to “front” for them as they cannot obtain housing independently from property owners. Others seek out small owners who do not know how to screen or go to owners who don’t care as long as they have a fist full of move-in money.

Prevention needs to occur before the rent is missed.

People at the bottom rung of the income scale will always have problems paying rent unless there is something like rent vouchers to help. What other societal costs could be reduced if the constant moving were to be reduced? I think there is a significant safety factor in knowing your neighbors, making it more likely you watch out for one another. What is the impact on schools as kids move, not just due to housing, but also utility disconnects? And so much more.

As I have said to Desmond in the past, I fully support his universal housing vouchers and am willing to work hard to promote it.

https://theappeal.org/eviction-cliff-coronavirus-pandemic-legal-representation/

The numbers of people at risk of going over this “evictions cliff” are staggering: Data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau indicates that between 43 and 45 percent of adults live in renter households affected by recent job or income losses, and nearly half of all renter households were struggling to make ends meet even before the virus hit. A UCLA analysis projects that in Los Angeles County alone, about 120,000 households—including 184,000 children—are likely to experience homelesseness, and Black, Latinx, and poor families will suffer the most.

Having a lawyer in housing court can give tenants facing eviction a fighting chance: A March 2012 Boston study, for example, found that about two-thirds of people in the group with full-service representation were able to keep their homes, compared to one-third in the group that received more limited legal help. In Seattle, the King County Bar Association’s Housing Justice Project found that tenants with counsel are more than three times as likely to avoid a forced eviction executed by the local sheriff’s office and reach an out-of-court agreement with their landlord. When the agreement includes a payment plan for catching up on rent, tenants remain housed nearly two-thirds of the time.

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Housing policies Housing Stats

AASEW’s Letter to Mayor Barrett

Below is the letter the Apartment Association sent to Mayor Barrett, President Johnson, and the Common Council on June 15th, 2020. We have yet to receive a response, but still hopeful that those representing housing providers are included in designing a meaningful solution to these problems

Dear Mayor Barrett

We are pleased that Milwaukee is considering offering financial help for tenants who are struggling to pay rent, and we would like to be a part of the process. We have been working with a coalition that includes Community Advocates, Legal Action, Legal Aid, and Mediate Milwaukee. The AASEW can bring valuable experience and insights to this effort, and we hope you will strongly consider our offer to participate in your deliberations.

While we applaud Governor Evers’ $25 million Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program, it represents approximately $30 of assistance per rental unit in Wisconsin. We believe the size of the rental population in Milwaukee and the financial fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic may necessitate a more robust response.

In our view, sustainable rental housing is critical to the well-being of Milwaukee. Nearly six in ten, 58.2%, of Milwaukeeans live in rental housing.[i] In some neighborhoods, such as 53233, the number of renters exceeds 97%. The success or failure of neighborhoods and rental housing are closely tied. Currently, Milwaukee offers some of the most affordable metropolitan rents in the nation, a significant advantage compared to similar-sized communities in the country.

However, if landlords cannot collect rents and continue to cover the operating expenses for their properties, the impact could be worse than the 2008 housing crisis. “The economic impact of the Great Recession and mortgage foreclosure crisis has had a significant, detrimental, and ongoing effect on City households.” DCD 12/2019.[ii] Foreclosure filings in Milwaukee County were three times higher in 2009 than last year.[iii] From 2008 through 2010,16,000 Milwaukee properties were in some stage of foreclosure by lenders and the City.[iv] In those two years, the tax base lost almost $2 billion in value, with a resulting $16.7 million loss of tax revenue. The resulting demolitions had a large impact on the City’s budget due to the cost of razing along with the impact on the property tax and municipal services collections.[v] The neighborhoods where those properties were located suffered long-term damage. We continue to feel that impact even today, and we certainly hope to avoid a similar outcome in the future.

Rental Housing is the largest small business in Milwaukee, with over $10 billion[vi] invested in the City. Rental properties account for more than $700 million dollars per year of economic impact, starting with $270 million[vi] paid in property taxes.

In 2018, the Census Bureau found the yearly mean operating costs, excluding mortgage payments, per unit for rental properties was $5,270. [vii] Milwaukee’s rental housing contributes $1,198 in wages per unit, $161 Million per year. But more than direct wages are involved. There is also the local multiplier effect because the wages paid to employees of Milwaukee landlords are a major economic factor in the well-being of the City and its residents.

These numbers highlight the critical importance of a healthy and vibrant rental housing market in Milwaukee. We hope you will accept our offer to participate in the upcoming process to deal with the fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic and Eviction Moratorium this year. Thank you for your consideration, and please feel free to use the contact information above for any clarifications or questions you may have.

Sincerely,

Ron Hegwood
President
Apartment Association of Southeastern WI, Inc

[i] https://data.census.gov/cedsci/table?g=0600000US5507953000&layer=VT_2018_040_00_PY_D1&t=Housing%20Units%3AOwner%2FRenter%20%28Householder%29%20Characteristics&tid=ACSDP1Y2018.DP04&vintage=2018&hidePreview=true&cid=B25008_001E

[ii]Section 2: Housing Needs and Demand Housing Affordability Report Department of City Development  |  December 2019

[iii] State’s Foreclosure Rates Have Plummeted » Urban Milwaukee

[iv] www.sewrpc.org/SEWRPCFiles/HousingPlan/Files/foreclosure-in-milw-progress-and-challenges.pdf

[v] Tom Barrett wants to spend $2.4 million on home demolition, rehab

[vi] MPROP assessor records April 2020

[vii]  https://www.census.gov/data-tools/demo/rhfs/#/?s_byGroup1=12&s_tableName=TABLE4

Categories
COVID Coronavirus Evictions Government Behaving Badly

Landlords’ perspective on eviction moratorium -NYT

Vulnerable Renters Face Evictions -NYT

Landlords argue that they are unfairly being forced to absorb the brunt of the financial burden of pandemic job losses. “Why isn’t food free? Why isn’t clothing free? Why aren’t all the other necessities of life free, yet shelter is being made free?” said Sherwin Belkin, a legal adviser for the Real Estate Board of New York, which represents property owners.

The government, he said, should provide vouchers to tenants who cannot pay rent because of the pandemic, and landlords should be allowed to use the courts to evict those who still do not pay. “Something is wrong when a private industry is being asked to take on its back what is really a public housing emergency,” he said.

Categories
COVID Coronavirus

Another troubling 2020 statistic

One troubling number that is underreported is Milwaukee has had 72 homicides YTD 2020, compared to 43 YTD 2019, a 67% increase.

Similarly, Chicago has seen record homicides. They had 18 shooting deaths in one 24 hour period, with 329 people murdered in the first six months, which was “only” a 34% increase over last year. Shootings in Chicago were up 75% in June, with murders up 78%.

I think we can all agree that even one murder is too many unless the victim is on Arya Stark’s list (GoT) “Joffrey, Cersei, Walder Frey, Meryn Trant, Tywin Lannister, The Red Woman,…”