The Biden Administration (through the CFPB) released a report this week on the financial picture of renters in the US. It's not getting a lot of press, due largely to the fact, that it paints the administrations claims with regards to the eviction moratorium completely off-base. The WSJ has a good summary, which is linked below. Some cliff-notes:
- Average credit score for a renter in this country actually INCREASED by 16 points during the pandemic, vs 10 points for the average homeowner. Average score increased 25 points for renters who have children.
- The share of renters with some sort of financial delinquency, DECREASED by 5 percentage points from December 2019 to April 2021.
- The poverty rate decreased from 11.7% pre-pandemic to 9.1%, during a global pandemic and recession.
The reality is, the massive amount of stimulus payments produced by the government propped virtually everyone up and not only replaced lost income, but actually enhanced their situation. On average, people are better off now than they were before the pandemic started. Which makes the arguments for rent moratoriums and student loan payment pauses that much more dubious and politically-motivated.
www.wsj.com
- Average credit score for a renter in this country actually INCREASED by 16 points during the pandemic, vs 10 points for the average homeowner. Average score increased 25 points for renters who have children.
- The share of renters with some sort of financial delinquency, DECREASED by 5 percentage points from December 2019 to April 2021.
- The poverty rate decreased from 11.7% pre-pandemic to 9.1%, during a global pandemic and recession.
The reality is, the massive amount of stimulus payments produced by the government propped virtually everyone up and not only replaced lost income, but actually enhanced their situation. On average, people are better off now than they were before the pandemic started. Which makes the arguments for rent moratoriums and student loan payment pauses that much more dubious and politically-motivated.
Opinion | How Renters Made Out in the Pandemic
A new Biden report shows the eviction ban wasn’t needed.
www.wsj.com
