#^Federal judge overturns national eviction banA federal judge struck down on Wednesday the national eviction moratorium, potentially leaving millions of Americans at risk of losing their homes.
It is about time! Beyond the serious issue of the CDC claiming jurisdiction to make such a policy, the policy is just BAD.
To handle a problem of people not being able to afford food, we don't tell grocery stores that people are allowed to just steal food from the store and that they must keep restocking their shelves so people can come back and steal again. Instead, the government pays for the food for them. That is, all taxpayers pay for that policy, not just the ones that own grocery stores.
Likewise, if the government doesn't want people to be evicted for being unable to pay rent, they should pay their rent for them. All taxpayers should pay for that policy, not just landlords. Landlords have expenses, too. Taxes, insurance, maintenance, and, in most cases, mortgages. I'm a landlord. I rent my old house to my sister-in-law. I don't have a mortgage on the house, but I still have to pay thousands of dollars in taxes and insurance every year. Fortunately, I don't depend on the remaining income to make ends meet, but many landlords do.
I know that, in theory, this ban doesn't mean the renter doesn't owe the unpaid rent, but lets be realistic. Most of that rent will never be paid. People who have been out of work aren't going to magically be able to afford to pay their back rent. Some people who could pay rent didn't because they could get away with it. They aren't going to grow a conscience now.
The end result of this policy will be that more small landlords will be bought out at a loss by large rental companies (who also made a killing in the housing crisis of 2008).
