During the most recent national “HoUSed: Universal, Stable, and Affordable Housing” call, we discussed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB’s) new measure to enforce the national eviction moratorium, received information on Treasury’s Homeownership Assistance Fund (HAF), learned about a new study on evictions by large landlords, heard field updates, and shared the latest intel from Capitol Hill.
CFPB Acting Director David Uejio announced the bureau’s release of an Interim Final Rule mandating debt collectors provide written notice to consumers about the eviction protections available under the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) eviction moratorium and prohibiting debt collectors from misrepresenting a household’s eligibility for moratorium protections. The rule will go into effect May 3. Tenants whose landlords have violated the CDC’s moratorium can submit a complaint to the CFPB.
Jim Baker of the Private Equity Stakeholder Project shared findings from a new report on COVID-19 evictions. The report found Pretium Partners, a private equity and debt firm and the second-largest provider of single-family rental homes in the country, filed over 1,300 evictions during the pandemic, the majority of which were filed after the CDC eviction moratorium was enacted in September 2020. Since the start of 2021, the company has filed nearly 500 evictions, with nearly half located in two majority Black counties in Georgia.
Noel Poyo from the Treasury Department and Alys Cohen from the National Consumer Law Center (NCLC) provided updates on the rollout of Treasury’s HAF, including a summary of recently released guidance from the Treasury on HAF implementation and NCLC’s overview of the program. NLIHC’s Rebecca Yae and Neetu Nair give the latest updates on Emergency Rental Assistance program tracking.
We received field updates from Elena Gains of the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs, Christine Hess of the Nevada Housing Coalition, and Maxwell Ciardullo of the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center. Kim Johnson from NLIHC provided insights from Capitol Hill, including an update on the status of President Biden’s infrastructure proposal.
NLIHC hosts national calls every week. On today’s call, we will be joined by Richard Cho, senior advisor for housing and services at HUD, who will provide insights on the forthcoming American Rescue Plan funding for homelessness and emergency vouchers. Register for today’s call (Monday, April 26 at 2:30 pm ET) at: https://tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Watch a recording of the April 19 call at: tinyurl.com/muxtpyrn
Access presentation slides at: tinyurl.com/xan963mj