[alexgmcm]

I don't understand how they expect tenants to be able to backpay all the rent if they weren't able to work due to the pandemic.

If they were prevented from working or lost their jobs due to the Government lockdowns it only seems fair the Government pays their rent.

[josephcsible]

For the first few months' worth of rent, sure. But for recent rent, when they've been allowed to return to work but chose not to, no way.

[AnimalMuppet]

How about this: Either the government lets you evict them, or the government pays their rent. But if the government prohibits evictions of non-paying tenants, and doesn't itself pay, how is that not "private property be[ing] taken for public use, without just compensation", and therefore a violation of the Fifth Amendment?

[josephcsible]

That definitely fixes the problem for the landlords, but I don't really like the idea of my tax dollars subsidizing deadbeats. What if the government paid the rent for now, but then came after the renters for it later with the same force that the IRS does?

[AnimalMuppet]

It fixes the problem with the Constitution. The rest is "merely" a matter of the normal government functions of deciding who to take money from and what to spend it on, which will get sorted out in the normal political way.

[tartoran]

Instead the government orders the landlord to caugh up the money. I think these landlords should sue the government and recover their losses