Deadbeat nation

Nearly a third of US apartment renters didn't pay ANY rent for April as coronavirus shutdown puts millions out of work and landlords fear they won't be able to pay taxes and utilities 
Nearly a third of U.S. residential tenants did not make any rent payments in the first week of April, according to new industry data, while experts warn 1.5 million families could be pushed to the brink of homelessness by the coronavirus crisis. By April 5, 31 percent of apartment households nationwide had not made any rental payments, according to data released by the National Multifamily Housing Council on Wednesday. Some 40 million Americans live in rental apartments nationwide, and many of them are under the strict lockdown orders that have affected more than 90 percent of the U.S. population, shutting down businesses and putting millions out of work. Renters who are unable to make full payments in the crisis fear that landlords will come after them once housing courts reopen and evictions resume, and the rental industry fears it will be unable to meet utility and tax obligations if rental payments continue to decline.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8200927/Nearly-apartment-renters-didnt-pay-rent-April.html

This is a disaster.  Tenants who couldn't make April rent payments won't be able to make May payments either.  Meanwhile the landlords are forbidden from evicting them.  When the courts reopen, hopefully in May, they will be swamped and they will be sympathetic to the tenants.  Eviction is usually a pretty quick summary process - the landlord must give ten days notice before filing, and then when the case is filed the hearing is scheduled within 14 days.  However, if the tenant-to-be-evicted files an answer, it could easily be more than a month before it goes to trial.  The judge will probably order the landlord to give the tenant another free month of rent.  So it could easily be the end of June or later before the landlord gets the defaulting tenant out.

Meanwhile, the tenants who still have jobs and would be inclined to pay rent wonder why they should pay.  They may decide to join in a "rent strike" in solidarity with their deadbeat neighbors against the greedy capitalist pig landlords.  So the problem gets pushed off to the landlord, who won't be able to pay his mortgage.  If this keeps up, he will get foreclosed on.  Even if it isn't this bad the lowered rental income will make property values decline.  The bankers won't feel the pain because they got bailed out.

The idiots in charge, like Dr Fauci, don't have a clue as to the enormous problems they are causing. They want the economy to be shut down for the next 18 months.  We need to reopen as soon as the virus is past its peak, which will be within a few days, probably on April 12.

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See also: A massive wave of evictions is coming. Temporary bans won't help.