Poll of the Day > Do any of ya'll know someone who didn't pay rent and is going to be evicted?

(+) Yeah! (+)

So it's been in the news alot lately, the eviction apocalypse or something like that. At the end of this month the restriction on evictions ends for most states. Supposedly alot of people (they had some absurd number) have not been paying rent, and so will either have to pay or get evicted (which can take awhile in some states, but might mean as early as the first few weeks of August for some).

I know not one person who didn't pay rent personally, so I find this kinda strange. I'm curious if anyone on here actually knows someone who has been living in an apartment/room etc and not paying rent for a few months etc.

It does seem to me like this is certainly not a good time to be kicking large numbers of people out on the street if there really have been quite a few that have not paid rent. I don't know what the solution is, but I think one possible solution is to give the renters a tax break, and possibly suspend mortgage payments for a bit, in return for forgiving past rent and allowing tenants to stay until a safer time.

I get that the owners have costs as well, and this could be exceedingly bad if they have actually been paying for utilities etc, that they have not been re-imbursed for by the tenants. It's not fair to put all the cost on them, but at the same time if people have not been able to work, and for some reason couldn't get unemployment (not sure why that would be with the extreme lax requirements for the PUA though), just throwing em out on the street during the highest period of the virus spreading, seems insane.

So do you know anyone? Do you have any suggestions as to what we should do as a nation about this? If they numbers the news quoted are true, we would have by far the largest homeless population this country has ever seen in the next few months.

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Before the apocalypse, yes.

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more stimulus checks

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wolfy42 posted...

I get that the owners have costs as well, and this could be exceedingly bad if they have actually been paying for utilities etc, that they have not been re-imbursed for by the tenants. It's not fair to put all the cost on them, but at the same time if people have not been able to work, and for some reason couldn't get unemployment (not sure why that would be with the extreme lax requirements for the PUA though), just throwing em out on the street during the highest period of the virus spreading, seems insane.

pretty much. I think some cities/states have suspended rent payments and are essentially just bailing out the landlords. Doesnt seem like the worst idea but also the vast majority of landlords are greedy fucks.


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SpeeDLeemon posted...

more stimulus checks

This has been talked about a few times, but it's looking like if they do happen, it won't happen before the deadline currently in effect, unless things change really quickly.

I really don't think more stimulus checks are going to help, they need to use the money in a more direct way in my opinion, perhaps to directly pay peoples rent, get them food, etc. The shear amount of money being used for the stimulus checks is insane, and a small portion of that could probably help just those people who are struggling to pay rent and get food until things get better. Don't get me wrong, I'd love an extra $1200 or whatever, but I'd rather see the people who really need it get the money.

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wolfy42 posted...

This has been talked about a few times, but it's looking like if they do happen, it won't happen before the deadline currently in effect, unless things change really quickly.

I really don't think more stimulus checks are going to help, they need to use the money in a more direct way in my opinion, perhaps to directly pay peoples rent, get them food, etc. The shear amount of money being used for the stimulus checks is insane, and a small portion of that could probably help just those people who are struggling to pay rent and get food until things get better. Don't get me wrong, I'd love an extra $1200 or whatever, but I'd rather see the people who really need it get the money.

Pretty hard to make sure only people that need the money get it. I mean I guess they could setup some sort of government office people could go to temporarily for assistance but we already have stuff like Welfare which is meant to do that.

Monopoman posted...

Pretty hard to make sure only people that need the money get it. I mean I guess they could setup some sort of government office people could go to temporarily for assistance but we already have stuff like Welfare which is meant to do that.

For the rent, some form of rental history would be needed. Sadly alot of people pay with cash, and don't even get receipts, and also many renters take that money under the table and don't claim it. Those people would be in trouble sadly as they couldn't prove the rent, and the program wouldn't help them.

Otherwise a rental history would show your rent, and you could submit that and have it covered till the pandemic was over (or submit it and have the money go towards the owners taxes/mortgage etc basically).

As far as food, I'd just straight out do food cards or even numbers for everyone who has a SS# and needs/wants it. Since the gov actually pays farmers to destroy crops etc, it would probably cost very little to provide people food assistance over all. Also the amount would not need to be THAT much for people to live well enough, say $50 a week per person (including kids/dependants though). The gov could easily handle that for everyone that needed it (and even the few who took advantage that didn't actually really need it).

Between the two programs MOST people who are struggling would be taken care of. Those who are homeless would have another program they could use (perhaps work in combo with hotels etc for temp housing). Those who were getting by under the table etc, and not paying rent with checks/cash ap/venmo etc, would have the most difficulty, but even they could probably work things out with their current landlord to start doing things over the table, and have the gov directly pay the landlords mortgage or reduce the property taxes etc.

It's not a perfect solution, but it would cost WAY less then giving each american $1200 again, and it would probably we FAR more effective.

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