U.S. Department of Housing to Award $20 Million for Eviction Protection

It's an important step to address an ongoing crisis.

When the COVID-19 pandemic first hit U.S. soil in early 2020, millions of jobs were shed within weeks. That left a lot of people scrambling to pay their bills in the absence of having money in a savings account to tap.

Thankfully, different protections were put into place in early 2020 to avoid a full-blown housing crisis. Mortgage borrowers were given the option to put their loans into forbearance for an extended period of time, during which they did not run the risk of foreclosure. And a federal eviction ban was put into place that barred landlords from removing tenants from their homes due to an inability to pay rent.

But those early pandemic-era protections are now long expired. And not shockingly, eviction rates have risen as a result. There have been nearly 1.8 million evictions across the U.S. since March 2020, according to Eviction Lab data. And there were nearly 9,400 evictions in the one-week period leading up to this writing alone.

Thankfully, lawmakers are taking steps to address the problem of evictions. And a new set of funding could go a long way.

Helping tenants attain more housing security

Landlords have the right to evict tenants on the basis of nonpayment -- provided they go through the proper motions and do so in a legal fashion. Unfortunately, many tenants aren't aware of their rights when it comes to evictions, and that puts them at a huge disadvantage.

But according to the recently published White House Blueprint for a Renters Bill of Rights, the U.S. Department of Housing has plans to award $20 million for the Eviction Protection Grant Program in 2023. The program will provide funding to nonprofit organizations and government entities to provide legal assistance to low-income tenants who are at risk of or subject to eviction.

One major disadvantage tenants facing eviction tend to have is a lack of financial resources -- something that may not be as much of a problem for landlords and large property management companies. Providing assistance to tenants in dire financial situations could help many avoid eviction or better cope with its aftermath.

Avoiding eviction in the first place

If you've simply run out of money to pay your rent, then an eviction notice may, unfortunately, be in your future. But that doesn't mean you're doomed to lose your home.

Talk to your landlord if you're having difficulty paying your rent. They might agree to a new payment plan or some sort of setup that allows you to stay in your home in the absence of being able to cover your rent in full. And if you are served with an eviction notice, seek help. Resources like FindLaw are available to people who need legal assistance but lack the funds to pay typical attorney fees.

The fact that lawmakers are taking steps to address the eviction crisis is a very good thing. Of course, another way to prevent evictions is to focus on making housing affordable, but that's something that's definitely on lawmakers' radar, too.