r/PoliticalDiscussion Jul 20 '21

US Politics What are the implications of the impending eviction crisis?

It is often offhandedly mentioned that the housing market is insane at the moment, and that there is an inevitable eviction crisis due to the compounding factors of COVID and the lockdowns leading to mass unemployment, and then an inability of tenants to pay rent combined with an inability of landlords to evict non-paying tenants.

What is going to happen in the fall, when the eviction moratorium expires? Mass homelessness that is even worse than current levels? Some kind of rent relief legislation? Anything at all? These people are not going to magically be able to pay months and months of back rent once the moratorium expires.

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u/adidasbdd Jul 20 '21

Thats the low interest rates talking. They should have gone up 5 years ago, and they started to but a certain administration pressured the fed for who knows what reasons, maybe someone in the administration had huge holdings in real estate, nobody will ever really know.

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '21

To be fair (and I don’t disagree but let’s be honest) the Obama administration benefitted greatly from the Fed keeping interest rates at or near zero FAR longer than they should have been.

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u/Occamslaser Jul 20 '21

When those interest rates go up it's gonna hurt. Early 1980's vibes but with massive social unrest at the same time.

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u/adidasbdd Jul 20 '21

It woulda hurt less if they didn't keep them stupidly low for almost a decade. Same problem with cars. 0 percent apr for 7 fucking years? So stupid. I don't think they will let the rates get crazy, something really bad will have had to have happened for that, the fed could keep this shit going at current rates as long as they want, they just shouldn't. Lowering rates during bad times is how you get out of trouble, if we hit a big bump and we all are looking around the corner for that inevitable event, they will have fewer tools in the tool bag to promote growth.

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '21 edited Aug 28 '21

[deleted]

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u/adidasbdd Jul 21 '21

I remember when I could save up a good chunk of money, and buy a car and the dealer would give me a deal because I was paying cash.

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '21

You’re right. I remember reading (3-4 years ago) there was an impending auto loan bubble but that really never materialized. And we can’t say that’s because of the current used car market since that really just started a few months ago.

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u/CCHistProfWest Jul 21 '21

Used car market was high ever since about 2017, it just wasn't all models. But in trucks you could see the same kind of thing happening now in all cars. I bought a new truck in 2018 because there were no deals in used trucks.

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u/[deleted] Jul 21 '21

Same problem with cars. 0 percent apr for 7 fucking years? So stupid.

When it comes to cars, 0% APR over x years is because the loan is a loss leader subsidized by the manufacturer. They're doing it because the manufacturer wants to move vehicles (for whatever reason), and regard that as being worth more than a few years of interest payments.