Tag: covid pandemic

By Beshoy Shokralla

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated preexisting vulnerabilities in the rental housing market and created a dire economic situation for both renters and small landlords. Prior to the pandemic, the poorest 20% of households were spending more than half of their income on housing costs with little to no savings.[1] Many renters who faced evictions often owed less than $600.[2] Now, due to the severe job losses brought by the pandemic, an estimated 30-40 million renters could be at risk of eviction.[3] The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia separately estimates that of 7.5 million renter households with at least one worker who has experienced some unemployment, 1.34 million renters will owe $7.2 billion in rent by December 2020.[4] That’s approximately $5,400 in rent-related debt for each household. This burden does not only affect renters, as many small landlords have also reported feeling the pressure. One survey conducted by Avail[5], an app that helps small landlords manage their property, and the Urban Institute found that about 30% of respondent-landlords have felt increased pressure to sell their properties due to the strain that the pandemic has caused.

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By Beshoy Shokralla

The most common response to the pandemic has been quick and decisive action from state governors to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through executive orders and state programs. At first, the orders were accepted and seen as necessary responses to the public health emergency. As time went on, however, and these orders continued to be renewed, state governors faced criticism from citizens, businesses, and even legislators for what many believed to be an improper exercise of power. Social media sites were littered with misinformation about how these executive orders were not laws, but mere suggestions that were unenforceable. Members of state legislators, believing these orders to be an exercise of legislative powers traditionally belonging to the legislative branch, began to rally against stay-at-home orders and call for them to be revoked. These debates were especially contentious in states where the governor was of a political party different from the majority of the state legislature. The pandemic has brought several important questions into the public dialogue and into courts, among them being: 1) does the government have the authority to restrict personal liberties during a public health crisis; 2) does the executive branch have the authority to respond to these crises; and 3) to what extent can state governors enact these responses?

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