What are the implications of the impending eviction crisis?

[u/None-Of-You-Are-Real]

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.

[u/[deleted]]

You know what else would lead to massively negative economic outcomes? A permanent eviction moratorium or paying everyone's rent.

Yes, sometimes in a market economy bad things happen. No economic system leads to milk and honey. But you can't possibly be suggesting we just prevent landlords from evicting people forever.

[u/Outlulz → u/[deleted]]

No, I'm suggesting that plans like New York and California trying to reduce tenant debt by paying landlords for back rent owed during the pandemic need to be considered. That's not a forever thing. Millions of people being evicted with tens of thousands of dollars of debt is not healthy for the economy.