Shawni Littlehale

COVID-19’s Impact on Rental Housing

/0 Comments/in , , , /by Shawni Littlehale
Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on
LinkedIn
+

According to a report published on April 8th from the National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC), about one third of the nation’s apartment residents have not paid their April rent. “The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in significant health and financial challenges for apartment residents and multifamily owners, operators and employees in communities across the country,” said NMHC President Doug Bibby. “However, it is important to note that a large number of residents met their obligations despite unparalleled circumstances, and we will see that figure increase over the coming weeks.”

Unemployment numbers are escalating to new highs, with 22 million claims since the crisis began, the highest level since 1940. With the majority of our nation’s newly unemployed unable to pay their rent, New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo placed a moratorium on evictions.  This is welcome news to the renter, but doesn’t provide answers for landlords who are responsible for mortgage payments and other expenses, as Cuomo’s moratorium only applies to residential mortgages, not commercial loans secured by property.  Further, it is not a regulation, just guidance.

The Massachusetts Legislature is currently debating a rental housing bill, with a six-person panel developing a final version of the bill, which is due on Governor Baker’s desk by Friday, April 17th.  Rep. David DeCoste, ranking member of the Joint Committee on Housing, indicated that legislators are close to agreeing on the final provisions of the bill.  Current versions provide renters with a lot more rope to delay payments, though Rep. DeCoste believes that for the long term, rent avoidance parameters will be tightened and made clearer.

In a report sent to state legislators by Skip Schloming, executive director of the Small Property Owners Association (SPOA) asserts:

A critical danger lies ahead if any eviction moratorium turns into widespread nonpayment. Evidence already suggests that it is happening. Like the experience of Lawrence after the 1991-92 recession, widespread abandoned housing, and even many torched buildings, could happen across Massachusetts and the country if widespread nonpayment lasts longer than even two or three months.

Schloming adds that “losing rental income from those able to pay not only stops all rental housing maintenance but stops landlords from paying their property taxes. How can cities keep functioning with a very large reduction in their property tax revenues?”  He suggests that to best serve both tenants and landlords, the current bill should include provisions for nonpayment by the truly needy, and partial or full payment by those who can afford it.

For many landlords, rental income is their only source of income. They are caught between a rock and a hard place, while they await their rent payment, many of their tenants are awaiting unemployment relief.  Nationwide, the majority (22.7 million out of nearly 43.9 million) of occupied rental units  are owned by individual investors, according to data from the 2015 Rental Housing Survey. Half of these units are financed by mortgages. Many real estate owners and their lenders are concerned about a mortgage shortfall as a result of non-payment of rent. Another landlord concern is that with so many tenants at home, their operating costs are rising as they deal with more trash and utility usage.

Whether the tenant has lost his or her job, or the landlord has lost rental income, mortgage foreclosures can lead to a disaster for both landlords and tenants. Only a portion of multifamily loans are federally backed through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, which are offering mortgage protection  to help landlords avoid foreclosure as the crisis continues. However, multifamily coverage accounts for only 39 percent of the federally backed loans.

Additional government assistance programs are also currently out of reach to many small property owners.  Under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Stability Act (CARES), most multifamily owners aren’t eligible for paycheck protection loans, since they don’t meet the requirement to dedicate 75 percent of the loan to payroll, which is nearly impossible for small property owners with limited staff.

Perhaps landlords will be able to cover expenses under the additional $250 billion in small business funding that Congress is currently debating how to allocate .  Unfortunately, it may be too late for many who can’t float their expenses.

Get Our COVID-19 News, Tips & Resources!

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Related Content

Prof. Raymond Arsenault on the 60th Anniversary of the Freedom Rides & Civil Rights

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Gerard Robinson and Cara Candal talk with Raymond Arsenault, the John Hope Franklin Professor of Southern History at the University of South Florida, and author of several acclaimed and prize-winning books on civil rights, including Freedom Riders: 1961 and the Struggle for Racial Justice. He shares how he became interested in researching, writing, and teaching about the Civil Rights Movement.

Study: After Years of Steady Increases, Homeschooling Enrollment Rose Dramatically During COVID

After steadily increasing for years, the number of parents choosing to homeschool their children skyrocketed during the pandemic, and policy makers should do more to acknowledge homeschooling as a viable option, according to a new study published by Pioneer Institute.

ASU’s Julie Young, Virtual Schooling Pioneer, on Digital Learning during COVID-19

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-host Cara Candal talks with Julie Young, ASU Vice President of Education Outreach and Student Services, and Managing Director of ASU Prep Academy and ASU Prep Digital. They discuss the implications of COVID-19’s disruption of American K-12 education and the future of digital learning.

UChicago’s Dr. Leon Kass on Genesis, Exodus, & Reading Great Books

This week on “The Learning Curve," guest co-host Jason Bedrick and co-host Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Leon Kass, MD, the Addie Clark Harding Professor Emeritus in the Committee on Social Thought and the College at the University of Chicago. Dr. Kass describes the important pieces of wisdom and humanity people today can still learn from reading the Book of Genesis, the topic of his 2003 work, The Beginning of Wisdom.

“America Today is on Bended Knee” – 20th Anniversary of 9/11 – 20 Resources for Parents & Students

The heroic stories of 9/11 are part of our national consciousness and memory. It’s the duty and obligation of the living and those who survived to pass along this history to the next generation. As Americans mourn the events of 20 years ago, while in the midst of another national crisis during COVID-19, let’s recommit ourselves to teaching students and the younger generation about seminal events like 9/11 that still shape our world today. To support this effort, we’re offering a variety of resources to help parents, teachers, and high school students.

NYT Best Seller Dr. Kate Clifford Larson on Fannie Lou Hamer & the Mississippi Civil Rights Movement

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Dr. Kate Clifford Larson, a New York Times best-selling biographer of Harriet Tubman and Fannie Lou Hamer. Kate shares why she has written about these historical African-American figures, and how she thinks parents, teachers, and schools can draw on their lives to talk about race.

Valhalla Foundation’s Nancy Poon Lue on STEM Access & Equity

This week on “The Learning Curve," host Gerard Robinson talks with Nancy Poon Lue, incoming Senior Director at the Valhalla Foundation, where she will be leading their K-12 math funding initiatives. Nancy shares her recent work with the EF+Math Program, some of the challenges America has faced in ensuring students have a strong grounding in math and science, and the kinds of results she aims to achieve for kids in all ZIP codes. 

Untangling Variants & Outbreaks: Can Vaccines & Natural Immunity Outrun Delta?

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with author, surgeon, and public health expert Dr. Marty Makary about the COVID-19 Delta Variant, the durability of natural and vaccinated immunity, the benefits of booster shots, and the health risks for children as we move into the fall.

Trevor Mattos Shows How Massachusetts Runs on Immigrants

This week on JobMakers, Host Denzil Mohammed talks with Trevor Mattos, research manager at Boston Indicators, the research center at The Boston Foundation, which educates state and local leaders on the important contributions immigrants are making. They discuss the urgency of this work, particularly in a time of divisive disinformation about immigrants and the uncertainty of the pandemic, and some of the surprising findings on the disproportionately large impact immigrant workers, entrepreneurs and innovators are having on the local economy

Yale’s Pulitzer-Winning Prof. David Blight on Frederick Douglass, Slavery, & Emancipation

This week on “The Learning Curve," Cara Candal and guest co-host Derrell Bradford talk with David Blight, Sterling Professor of American History and director of the Gilder Lehrman Center for the Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition at Yale University. He is the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography, Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom.

UVA Prof. E.D. Hirsch, Jr. on Core Knowledge, Equity, & Educating Citizens

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Professor E.D. Hirsch, Jr., founder and chairman of the Core Knowledge Foundation, professor emeritus at the University of Virginia, and acclaimed author of the books, Cultural Literacy: What Every American Needs to Know and How to Educate a Citizen: The Power of Shared Knowledge to Unify a Nation.

“Key of the Gulf” – Exploring Cuba – 35 Resources for Parents & Students

Castro’s despotism, the Cold War, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the Embargo, remains the Cuban people – vibrant, creative, pious, and poor, who have continued to inspire and awe with their smiles, culture, music, dance, food, tobacco, resilience, and hopes. With the desire of passing along some of this magic to American families, students, teachers, and schools, we’re providing a variety of resources to educate our people about their neighbors, who live a mere 100 miles from our shores, in Cuba.

Human Rights Advocate Kristina Arriaga on Cuba, Religious Liberty, & Cancel Culture

This week on “The Learning Curve," co-hosts Cara Candal and Gerard Robinson talk with Kristina Arriaga, president of Intrinsic, a strategic communications firm, and former vice chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. Kristina shares her family’s experiences fleeing Castro’s communist regime in Cuba and other hardships, and how her background has shaped her commitment to religious liberty.

Pandemic Pension Payout: Essential COVID-19 Public Workers Rewarded Whether Essential or Working

Hubwonk host Joe Selvaggi talks with Pioneer Institute’s Director of Research and former Massachusetts Inspector General and State Representative Greg Sullivan about HB 2808, COVID-19 Essential Employee Retirement Credit Bonus, discussing the merits of the recently proposed joint bill, its cost, and our current public debt burden in the Commonwealth.

MBTA Ridership Trends Compared to Public Transportation Agencies Nationwide

0 Comments
/
The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating effect on our economy,…

Public Statement on Implementation of the Charitable Giving Deduction

Despite being awash in cash, the state Legislature just overrode Gov. Charlie Baker’s veto of a provision to delay by yet another year a tax deduction for charitable donations. Rep. Mark Cusack, House chair of the Joint Committee on Revenue, said “it doesn’t mean no, just not now.” If not now, when?

The Globe’s Ornaments – Celebrating the Great Cities of the Ages – 35 Resources for Parents & Students

Celebrating the Great Cities of the Ages - This is part of Pioneer’s ongoing series of blogs on curricular resources for parents, teachers, and students during COVID-19.

Jeeves & Wooster’s World The Comic Genius of P.G. Wodehouse – 30 Resources for Parents & Students

Life and writing can and should be playful, witty, light, fun, and make us smile. This is particularly important during the hard realities and sometimes loneliness of COVID, lockdowns, masks, and the increasingly stilted use of language today. To provide some much-needed comic relief and to help people of all age groups glory in the English language, take ourselves less seriously, and laugh more – please enjoy the world of P.G. Wodehouse!