Republicans invite ‘avalanche of evictions’ in a pandemic, in the middle of winter

So it’s Christmas Eve. Republicans have blocked the thing Donald Trump demanded in return for signing the coronavirus relief and government funding bill—$2,000 survival checks. Senate Republicans are blowing off the whole premise of helping people. Extended unemployment benefits from the CARES Act expire Saturday. Government funding expires on Monday at midnight, along with current pandemic response efforts. Assistance to renters—$25 billion in emergency aid—and an extension on the federal eviction moratorium are dependent on Trump signing this bill, and Republicans just have “thoughts and prayers” that he’ll do it.

All this while an “avalanche of evictions” is starting to roll, as the eviction moratorium expires at the end of Thursday, Christmas Eve. The census estimates that 11.3 million households are either behind on their rent or won’t be able to pay next month’s rent. Moody’s Analytics figures there is a $70 billion backlog in unpaid rent. Landlords have to live, too, and hundreds of thousands have filed eviction notices in local courts pending the expiration of the moratorium.

That means hundreds of thousands of people—including households with children—are going to be thrown out of their homes. Those evictions will, once again, hit communities of color disproportionately hard. It will put people out of their homes—during a pandemic—and into crowded shelters or in doubled-up housing with family or friends. It will only worsen infection rates. In the middle of winter. That’s what Trump is doing. And Republicans have no plan to stop him from doing it.