Millions of Americans can’t pay rent | 2020 Election

The pandemic turned America’s housing crisis into an eviction crisis.

Watch more 2020 US election coverage at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJ8cMiYb3G5eKjlXtsOo6SDi2ZvcHQ69q

Long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, low-wage workers in the United States were already struggling to pay their rent, and were being evicted at rates much higher than in other similar countries. In the US, one in 40 renters has been evicted ー compared to one in 89 in the UK, one in 227 in Denmark, and one in 25,000 in France.

Since the pandemic took millions of US jobs in March and April, most workers who make more than $20 an hour have been able to keep working, or have returned to work. But low wage workers — the people most likely to be renters instead of homeowners — are also the least likely to have gotten their jobs back. Now, seven months into the pandemic, millions aren’t working, and many of them are facing homelessness.

In this video we ask what other governments around the world have done to keep people in their homes, what the US has done, what it could do, and if the 2020 election could change any of it.

This is the ninth in our series of 2020 election explainers, all based on viewer suggestions. Watch the others, which cover the stakes of the election on:
1) Climate change: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfAXbGInwno
2) Voting rights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=al3qY8ZMHEc
3) Reproductive health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bzuk13Ftxgo
4) Public schools: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFJ37ri-Saw
5) Police reform: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHePglP28CM
6) America’s role in the world: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5LrQv496Iw
7) Transportation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZDZtBRTyeI
8) LGBTQ rights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRnpUptf7E0
9) The eviction crisis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F07yTI0J3Qk

Further reading:

Debt, eviction and hunger: Millions fall back into crisis as stimulus and safety nets vanish (Washington Post): https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/08/23/economy-federal-benefits-low-wage-workers/

Hundreds of evictions in Fayette County set to resume despite pandemic, mass confusion (Lexington Herald-Leader): https://www.kentucky.com/news/local/counties/fayette-county/article245084480.html

With 1 Million Illinois Residents Facing Eviction, Tenants Rights Group Calls For Rent, Mortgage Relief (Block Club Chicago): https://blockclubchicago.org/2020/08/18/with-1-million-illinois-residents-facing-eviction-tenants-rights-group-calls-for-rent-mortgage-relief/

The Economic Impacts of COVID-19: Evidence from a New Public Database Built from Private Sector Data”, by Raj Chetty, John Friedman, Nathaniel Hendren, Michael Stepner, and the Opportunity Insights Team. September 2020. https://opportunityinsights.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/tracker_paper.pdf

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