Thousands Of Low-Income Renters Are Facing Eviction Due To Government Shutdown

Those who rely on the federal government to help them pay a portion of their rent could lose that assistance if the shutdown continues. Many of those households include seniors and people with disabilities, according to huffpost.

Some renters in Arkansas are already facing eviction. A letter from a property manager told tenants at properties in several towns, “Until the government opens again, you are responsible for ALL of your rental amount,” threatening eviction if tenants don’t pay up by the 20th.

This may be the situation for thousands of others nationwide come next month if the government is still shutdown.

The holdup on the budget comes from Trump’s unwillingness to budge on his proposed $5 billion border wall that the Democrats do not want the American taxpayers to have to financially support. Trump’s all or nothing approach has left the government shut down for weeks now.

Diane Yentel, the director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, called it “appalling” that a landlord has already threatened to evict tenants because of the shutdown. But she said it’s ultimately on Congress and Trump.

Yentel said:

“It is incredibly reckless to risk the homes of some of our country’s poorest seniors, people with disabilities and families with children as perceived leverage for a fight that has nothing to do with them,”

The Department of Housing and Urban Development said it can’t renew some contracts with private landlords in its project-based rental assistance program, known as Section 8, which contracts with private building owners to reserve at least 40% of their rental units for low-income families.

Project-based affordable housing supports 1.4 million households. An additional 2.2 million households use portable rental vouchers, which are only funded until March.