Tenants and Landlords: Help Is Available!
January 26, 2021Congress included $25 billion in rental assistance in the recent $900 billion relief package.
The CARES Act of 2020 introduced a rent forbearance program that renters could request if their lives had been impacted by Covid-19. It seemed like a good idea at the time, since the disease was raging and workplaces were closed down.
Apparently, there was little thought given to the downstream effects of such a policy, two notable ones being that it could be very difficult for renters to make good on promises to pay back rent if the crisis dragged on, and that landlords would be unable to maintain the dwellings or pay the loans they used to buy the properties without the monthly revenue they expected when the tenants signed their leases.
After months of forced Covid-19 related lockdowns, many renters are tapped out.
After months of rent forbearance many landlords are in distress.
Until recently, moratoriums on eviction have left landlords with few options, apart from housing tenants with the hope that they will be able to come up with the back rent some time after the forbearance period is over.
Now landlords can offer to help tenants apply for the assistance available to those actually impacted and get them caught up on their rent.
