During the most recent national call on coronavirus, disasters, housing, and homelessness, we discussed the impact of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium on eviction rates, the use of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Public Assistance funds to house people experiencing homelessness, and NLIHC’s November 19 National Call-In Day to demand action on COVID-19 relief. We also received field updates from Georgia and Illinois and discussed disaster relief bills introduced in Congress.
Peter Hepburn from Eviction Lab discussed the spike in eviction filings between the expiration of the CARES Act moratorium on July 24 and the implementation of the CDC moratorium on September 4. Eviction Lab’s recent preliminary analysis “Eviction Filings During and After Local Eviction Moratoria” provides more in-depth information on the spike in eviction filings.
Alayna Calabro discussed the recently released NLIHC report, Housing is Healthcare: Challenges, Best Practices, and Policy Recommendations to Improve FEMA Programs to House People Experiencing Homelessness in Non-Congregate Shelters During the Pandemic. The report shares best practices for using FEMA Public Assistance funds to house people experiencing homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic.
NLIHC’s Tori Bourret provided information on the November 19 National Call-In Day to demand urgent congressional action on COVID-19 relief. Bambie Hayes-Brown from Georgia ACT shared how the organization used their Our Homes, Our Votes grant to turn out voters in Georgia. Bob Palmer of Housing Action Illinois discussed the state of evictions and rental assistance.
NLIHC’s Sarah Saadian shared updates on the “Housing Survivors of Major Disasters Act” (H.R. 2914), a bill to address title documentation issues, and the “FEMA Assistance Relief Act of 2020” (H.R. 8266), a bill to increase the cost-share percentage to 90% for actions taken during major disasters in 2020 and 100% for actions taken in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also heard about NLIHC’s priorities for the Biden-Harris administration.
NLIHC hosts national calls on coronavirus, disasters, housing, and homelessness every week. On today’s call, we will be joined by Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California. Register for today’s call (Monday, November 23 at 2:30 pm ET) at: https://tinyurl.com/ru73qan
Watch a recording of the November 16 call at: tinyurl.com/yxwsbhfh
Access presentation slides at: tinyurl.com/yye45tu5