[tlack]

Alright, collected smartypantses: any bets on what happens now? Some people estimate that 2 in 5 renters are late on their rents [1]. This wave of sudden evictions is going to be traumatic, and I really don't have enough room for any roommates.

Is there any option other than some kind of one-time federal rent forgiveness program?

[1] https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/31/economist-a-surge-in-evictio...

[lax4ever]

While I imagine there will be outliers, and those outliers will likely be the featured media stories because bad news sells better, I would imagine the majority of those who are behind on their rent have worked with their landlords to come to some sort of agreement. The vast majority of landlords know that without renters you aren't paying for that property you purchased as an investment, and they know that hard times have fallen on quite a few people. The bigger impact of this eviction moratorium has been the number of people who felt empowered to take on landlords and just stop paying even if they could since there was no legal avenue for them to do anything about it and then go about trashing the place. There are quite a few stories about that taking place. Again, these are likely the outliers but those are the what get the clicks. For every single mother of two who would be evicted there is an example of a renter who stopped paying and trashed the property of a landlord who was struggling just as much, if not more, to get by. There are always two sides to every coin, and a federal solution for something like this will likely only make matters worse overall.

[bhupy]

Some States will likely re-establish their own moratoriums.

My state, NY, just did: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2021/05/03/ny-state-evic...

California already extended it through June: https://www.gov.ca.gov/2021/01/29/governor-newsom-signs-legi...

Washington extended it through June as well: https://www.wgrz.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/evictio...

I think those 3 States alone capture the highest rent markets. I imagine plenty of other States will follow, and those that don't probably already don't have overheating rental markets.

On the whole, this ruling was the correct one: the Federal government does not have the power to impose such restrictions directly on landlords, it isn't an enumerated power, and it's definitely not interstate commerce. It's up to the States to figure it out, most of them will do what they think is best for their State, and there will likely be a few exceptionally adverse edge cases. The news media will likely focus on those exceptionally adverse edge cases, and we'll all make a big fuss about it. Life goes on.

[beerandt]

Well- aside from the issue that is renters being evicted and lenders foreclosing...

The positive side is it will add inventory to a tight real estate market that desperately needs it. Which should result in somewhat of self-correction in prices on its own, making for an overall more affordable (appropriately/properly) priced market.

It'll be interesting to see how much the moratorium gets credit for the current housing market inventory shortage (and the likely extant and/or imminent resultant bubble). Certainly it's prevented an onslaught of covid caused evictions, but I'm curious to see how much it decreased overall pressure on a typical/generic seller's decision to sell.

[qeternity]

It’s not that simple. Landlords won’t necessarily rush to evict because there is no demand. Most landlords would rather work with a tenant, rather than kick them out and guarantee no income for a while.

[eyelidlessness]

My bet is a massive legislative battle over a patchwork temporary salve, which may not pass even with the party most likely to support said patchwork in control. I hope I’m wrong, but this has been a catastrophe in queue behind borrowed time for far too long already.

[bawolff]

I imagine people either start paying their rent or they live on the streets. That's generally how a capitalist society with poor safety nets works.

[mchusma]

Why forgive rents? Housing prices going down is a good thing. They are high and rising. We need the opposite.

[eyelidlessness]

And what happens to the 40% (citing GP, not my own data) of renters who are already behind and will now have an eviction on their record? If rent goes down 20% (arbitrary number for sake of discussion), that doesn’t do a lot of good for renters who can’t pay the remaining 80%, or whose next application won’t be approved even if they could.

[Broken_Hippo]

So, a bunch of people being homeless is good because housing prices will go down?

This seems like a high human cost just so some richer folks can get cheap housing. It's gonna be hard for the folks evicted to take advantage of those low prices, though, and that's who would need them.