New Report on COVID-19 Housing Policy

The federal government’s response to the housing challenges created by COVID-19 has been limited, leaving state and local governments to create a patchwork of solutions. State and local governments have been forced to provide eviction and foreclosure protections and relief from rent, mortgages, and property taxes as federal government support falls well short of current housing needs.

A new report released by the Boston University Initiative on Cities (IOC) analyzed state and local pandemic housing policy across all 50 states and 118 cities. Since the beginning of the pandemic:

• 45 states and 56% of large cities have developed and implemented formal eviction moratoriums. Large majorities of state and local governments added eviction protections that go well beyond the limited support of the initial federal government response. Notably, none of these protections cancel rent obligations, leaving renters vulnerable once these protections start expiring — as many have over the course of the summer.
• 54% of states and 40% of the nation’s largest cities provide some form of COVID-19 rent relief. The scope of these programs, however, falls well short of renters’ housing needs. Underfunded, these programs frequently feature oversubscribed lotteries and long waitlists. Some also ended over the summer, despite the ongoing nature of the global pandemic.
• 66% of states and 19% of cities put in place a foreclosure moratorium in response to COVID-19. As with the eviction moratoriums, however, these programs simply delay, rather than cancel mortgage obligations.
• 58% of states and 33% of cities offer COVID-19 mortgage relief. In some cases, state and local governments directly offer financial resources to support homeowners struggling with mortgage payments. Other governments negotiated directly with banks to ensure reduced or delayed mortgage payments.
• Only 30% of states and 37% of cities have provided any property tax relief. In some communities, governments have offered to delay payments. Other places have created funding to provide financial resources for residents struggling to pay their property taxes.