This Tuesday, August 3, Anne Wright, who manages an observatory on rental evictions in Allegheny County, which is home to Pittsburgh, the former steel town of Pennsylvania, made her count: the day before there were 73 eviction requests filed. to the court. Four times more than the average in the previous week. Explanation, the federal moratorium expired on July 31 and the judicial machine can get back into place. In the agglomeration of 1.2 million inhabitants, it is panic. “We see in people an increase in desperation, anger, fear of losing their housing, when they are not necessarily responsible”, deplores his colleague, lawyer Kyle Webster, secretary general of Action Housing, a rental housing company for the poorest in the city.
Since the start of the pandemic, America had avoided the procession of evictions that usually accompany crises. Due to a total ban decided by Congress under the aegis of Donald Trump until August 2020, then, from September 2020, by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which estimated that it was a matter of public health and had extended this moratorium.
The situation changed in June: seized by an association of owners, the Supreme Court decided that an extension could not be done without a vote of Congress. The latter did not act, and let slip the date of July 31. The case sparked an uproar from the left of the Democratic Party. Missouri Representative Cori Bush led the protest. This pastor, who was, like many African-American mothers alone, homeless in her life, occupies the steps of the Capitol day and night: “It’s 2 am Sunday. We haven’t slept since Thursday night. The moratorium on evictions has expired… 11 million people are now at risk of losing their homes at any time. The House must meet and put an end to this crisis ”, M tweetedme Bush on the night of the 1er August.
8.2 million late American households
She received backing from left-wing figures like Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders or New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as 8.2 million American households were in arrears with rent in early July, and therefore likely to be expelled. In reality, the way of Congress was impractical. As New York Democratic Representative Hakeem Jeffries conceded on CNN, if a House vote was possible, it seemed nearly impossible to convince ten Republican senators to achieve the required 60% majority.
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