Color of Money

TV. They can’t pay the rent because their work is sporadic.”

Often, when people can’t pay their rent, they don’t communicate with their landlord, reasoning there’s no point if they don’t have the money. That’s a mistake. To encourage people to come to him, Rabek said he reached out to his tenants at the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. He stressed the importance of being open and he passed along information about resources his tenants could tap.

“To renters, landlords are scary beasts,” he said. “I try to work with people.”

The Census Bureau has created a weekly survey — the Household Pulse Survey — to collect data on how households across the country are dealing with employment and housing issues, among other things. Clearly, covid-19 has disproportionately affected renters. The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) has been looking at the initial findings, which found that 19.4% of all renters either were not able to pay their rent on time or deferred their rent last month. In looking forward, more than one-third of renters have little or no confidence in their ability to make next’s month’s rent, the council said.

“The results show how widespread the stresses stemming from the pandemic are on American households and especially renter households,” according to the report by NMHC. “Much of the data also underscore the need for a widespread federal renter assistance payment program to provide relief to affected households and help stabilize the housing and financial systems.”

Many jurisdictions have placed a moratorium on evictions, but those orders will be expiring soon. The Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (Cares) Act prohibits evictions of people living in certain federally subsidized housing. Unless Congress acts, the moratoriums will end on July 25.

House Democrats have passed a $3 trillion stimulus package, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions (Heroes) Act, which would extend the eviction moratorium for another 12 months. The Heroes Act provides funding to help with rent, mortgage payments, and utilities — $100 billion is slated for rental assistance for low-income renters. But the Heroes Act is stymied by the lack of Republican support.

Without more federal assistance, a wave of evictions is likely.

Rabek asked that I not characterize his efforts to assist his tenants as “too idyllic.”

“This is going to be a long, hard slog over the next months, and I don’t want to make it seem that there are, or will be, simple solutions,” he said. “For me, it’s about trying to make a distressing time less stressful for all of us to the extent that I can. And, fortunately, the goodwill that has been built up with the tenants has so far carried us forward, though I know there will be harder times for us all.”

Readers can write to Michelle Singletary c/o The Washington Post, 1301 K St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20071. Her email address is michelle.singletary@ washpost.com. Follow her on Twitter (@SingletaryM) or Facebook (www.facebook. com/MichelleSingletary). Comments and questions are welcome, but due to the volume of mail, personal responses may not be possible. Please also note comments or questions may be used in a future column, with the writer’s name, unless a specific request to do otherwise is indicated.

MEDIANEWS GROUP FILE PHOTO The Delaware Valley Regional Economic Development Fund has committed $3.25million to the five counties in the Greater Philadelphia region to help businesses alleviate some of the impact of the COVID-19pandemic. In this file photo, master brewer Randy Young stands in front of J.J. Ratigan Brewing Co. on High Street in Pottstown. Like all restaurants and bars in Pennsylvania, the new Pottstown brewery had to shut down its seating in March — and moved to takeout only.