如何解决COVID-19驱逐危机
在没有家的情况下应对公共卫生危机,对太多的美国人来说是一个严峻的现实。除非领导人确保联邦政府的租房援助能够惠及最需要的人,否则这个问题将会加剧。
现在国会已经批准了超过460亿美元的紧急租金援助,这笔钱会到达数百万最需要的美国人手中吗?他们是收入最低、最边缘化的房客和小房东。
美国疾病控制与预防中心(CDC)最近延长了全国驱逐禁令,这将防止数千万人在6月30日之前失去家园。除此之外,至关重要的是要确保紧急租赁援助资金来自国会通过了两项COVID救济计划迅速而公平地分配给收入最低的租户,以及其他在获得公共福利方面面临系统性劣势的人,如黑人、土著人、有色人种和移民。
然而,分配这些资金存在挑战。国会将租赁援助计划的一些细节留给了各州和地方,这导致了某些社区不必要的和繁重的限制或要求。一些项目为租户提供拓展和帮助——在线、亲自或通过电话——并允许他们自我证明自己的资格和需求,但其他项目不这样做,导致一些租户无法驾驭申请流程。各州提供的援助数额也不一致。
Now, as we enter the pandemic’s 13th month, the threat of eviction looms over nearly ten million renters who have fallen behind on rent, affecting people in communities large and small, rural and urban. Hardest hit of all are communities of color.
Housing Insecurity and Inequity: A Decades-Long Problem
Just as Black, Indigenous and Latino people have endured higher rates of infection and death from the virus, they have also suffered the most from its economic effects. This is partly because they hold a disproportionate share of jobs in the service industry which has been hit especially hard by the pandemic.
But it is also because of structural racism’s enduring impact and our country’s long history of discriminatory housing and lending practices. Discriminatory policies throughout the 20th century—including the practice of redlining, the creation of White-only suburbs from the 1930s to the 1960s, the systemic denial of mortgages to people of color, and occupational segregation—led to widespread residential segregation by race. These practices have invariably led to differential access to health-promoting resources like clean air, high-quality schools, and job opportunities.
" data-isabstract="false" class="cmp-text">如果这些资金不能按照设计的方式分配,驱逐危机将会加剧。
疾病预防控制中心的联邦驱逐禁令总体上完成了它的目的,在疫情期间保持了数千万租房者的稳定住所。但是,尽管有保护措施,该命令的缺陷仍然导致了数量惊人的驱逐。就在最近,在5个州和27个城市,有近5200人被驱逐驱逐实验室尽管国家暂停了因不付房租而驱逐的规定。自2019冠状病毒病大流行开始以来,几乎每个州都提出了驱逐申请,其中印第安纳州有3.6万多人,密苏里州有2.1万人。在休斯顿,2019冠状病毒病疫情期间,已有2.7万多人被驱逐。
现在,当我们进入大流行的第13个th本月,近1000万拖欠房租的租房者面临被驱逐的威胁,大大小小的社区、农村和城市的人们都受到影响。受打击最严重的是有色人种社区。
住房不安全和不平等:一个长达数十年的问题
正如黑人、土著和拉丁美洲人的感染率和死亡率更高一样,他们也遭受了最严重的经济影响。这在一定程度上是因为他们在受疫情打击尤其严重的服务业中占据了不成比例的工作份额。
但这也是因为结构性种族主义的持久影响,以及我国长期以来在住房和贷款方面的歧视性做法。整个20世纪的歧视性政策——包括划红线的做法,20世纪30年代到60年代白人专属郊区的建立,系统性地拒绝向有色人种发放抵押贷款,以及职业隔离——导致了广泛的种族居住隔离。这些做法不可避免地导致在获得清洁空气、高质量学校和就业机会等促进健康资源方面存在差异。
The threat of eviction falls disproportionally on Black women, who are more likely to face housing discrimination and other forms of racial and gender-based discrimination. This leads to the loss of a home, disruption of family and social networks, and numerous negative mental and physical health consequences. It also results in an eviction record that makes it harder to rent in the future. One assessment found that Black women renters had evictions filed against them at twice the rate of White women.
The Health Consequences of Evictions
Evictions carry profound health consequences and harm families in ways that will cast a shadow long after the pandemic has ended.
While a safe and healthy home is the first line of defense against COVID-19, evictions often lead to overcrowded housing conditions by forcing people to double up with friends or family. These arrangements make it nearly impossible to comply with public health measures such as social distancing and self-quarantining, creating a vicious cycle of housing displacement and health risks amid the pandemic. These risks persist in spite of the availability of vaccines since vaccine access lags for communities of color.
Recent research confirms this connection: evictions (and lack of eviction protections) are associated with increased COVID-19 cases and mortality. More broadly, being forced from your home is linked to a range of negative health outcomes, including depression, anxiety, suicide, emergency room visits, and exposure to violence.
Federal Action to Solve This Crisis
Although the national eviction moratorium has prevented the displacement of millions of families since taking effect last September, it has failed to protect thousands of others—pushing them deeper into poverty and poor health.
" data-isabstract="false" class="cmp-text">例如,在一个又一个城市,研究人员发现,居住在曾经被划红线的社区的有色人种更有可能寿命更短,收入更低,而且房租负担更重。
结构性种族主义造成的不平等也加剧了2019冠状病毒病对有色人种社区的损害。在大流行期间,黑人和拉丁裔人一直在努力支付房租,其中许多人在大流行之前一直在努力支付房租报道对自己支付房租的能力缺乏信心。他们也两倍的可能性白人租房者拖欠住房付款的比例是白人租房者的两倍,报告被驱逐的风险是白人租房者的两倍。所有这些都是除了面对a之外的惊人的高感染和死于COVID-19的风险。
被驱逐的威胁不成比例地落在黑人妇女身上,她们更有可能面临住房歧视和其他形式的种族和性别歧视。这导致失去家园,破坏家庭和社会网络,以及许多负面的心理和身体健康后果。它还会导致驱逐记录,使未来更难租房。一个评估发现黑人女性房客被驱逐的比率是白人女性的两倍。
驱逐对健康的影响
驱逐会带来严重的健康后果,并对家庭造成伤害,在疫情结束后很长一段时间内都会留下阴影。
虽然安全健康的家园是抵御COVID-19的第一道防线,但驱逐往往会迫使人们与朋友或家人合住,从而导致住房条件过度拥挤。这些安排使得人们几乎不可能遵守社交距离和自我隔离等公共卫生措施,在大流行期间造成住房流离失所和健康风险的恶性循环。尽管自那时以来已有疫苗,但这些风险仍然存在有色人种社区的疫苗接种滞后。
最近的研究证实了这种联系:拆迁(和缺乏驱逐保护)与COVID-19病例和死亡率增加有关。更广泛地说,被迫离开家是与一系列负面健康结果,包括抑郁、焦虑、自杀、急诊室就诊和遭受暴力。
解决这场危机的联邦行动
尽管自去年9月生效以来,全国暂缓驱逐令阻止了数百万家庭的流离失所,但它未能保护成千上万的其他家庭——使他们陷入更深的贫困和健康状况不佳。
But beyond this, we need change that guarantees housing as a human right. This can only happen by advancing anti-racist policies and achieving the large-scale, sustained investments and reforms necessary to ensure that people with the lowest incomes have a safe, stable, and affordable place to call home.
More than ever, lawmakers must push for long-term, structural reforms in our country, many of which are outlined in RWJF’s recent housing policy brief and NLIHC’s national advocacy work. These include the need to:
- Make rental assistance and housing choice vouchers universally available. Today, only one in four households eligible for rental assistance receives it, limiting their ability to live in affordable, stable homes or in higher-opportunity neighborhoods.
- Strengthen and enforce renter legal protections. The power imbalance between renters and landlords put renters at risk of housing instability and homelessness. There should be requirements for landlords to show just cause for evictions and a right to counsel for all renters facing evictions.
- Expand and preserve the supply of affordable homes. Not one single state or congressional district in America has an adequate supply of affordable housing for families with the lowest incomes. Preserve and build more public housing, expand the national Housing Trust Fund, and use federal incentives or requirements to reform local zoning.
- Increase community and nonprofit ownership of housing. This approach gives residents control over important community assets, keeps neighborhoods affordable, and makes it less likely that people lose their homes when there are dips in the economy.
- Provide emergency rental assistance to households in crisis by creating a permanent national housing stabilization fund. Millions of households are just one financial shock away from economic hardship that could quickly leave them without a home.
In mere months, we witnessed the power and ingenuity of modern science to develop multiple COVID-19 vaccines. We need that same power and will to ensure housing stability and opportunity for everyone, or our collective health and economic well-being will continue to be in jeopardy.
Learn more about RWJF-supported initiatives and resources for communities working to ensure access to safe, stable, affordable housing for all.
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这是因为疾控中心的政策在各州的应用不一致,漏洞百出,而且没有得到充分执行。
租房者只有在知道禁令并寻求保护的情况下才受到保护。因此,企业和其他房东继续驱逐那些不知道他们可以获得暂停保护的租房者。通常是最边缘化的租房者,如无证移民或无法上网的老年人,他们最需要但最不了解暂停令的保护。一些房东通过寻找除拖欠租金以外的其他理由来逃避禁令。
由于数百万人拖欠房租,只有现在采取大胆行动,才能防止2019冠状病毒病之后出现更严重的危机。这就是为什么联邦政府必须尽快采取以下行动:
- 执行和加强驱逐令通过使其保护普遍和自动,适用于所有租赁类型,并澄清房东不能在暂停期间启动驱逐程序。政府让联邦贸易委员会和消费者金融保护局参与执行暂停令的意图令人鼓舞。
- 确保向最低收入租户、有色人种、移民及其房东提供紧急租金援助,以防止驱逐。到2021年1月,超过900万租户拖欠租金。与此同时,小型和非营利性房东,尤其是那些黑人和拉丁裔房东,正在努力偿还抵押贷款、支付维护和运营成本。关键策略包括:简化应用程序,与社区组织合作进行扩展,跟踪谁在接受租赁援助,并根据需要改进策略。
但除此之外,我们还需要做出改变,保障住房作为一项人权。这只能通过推进反种族主义政策和实现大规模、持续的投资和必要的改革来实现,以确保收入最低的人有一个安全、稳定和负担得起的家。
立法者比以往任何时候都必须推动我国的长期结构性改革,其中许多改革在RWJF最近的报告中有所概述房屋政策简介和NLIHC的全国宣传工作。其中包括需要:
- 使租赁援助和住房选择券普遍可用。如今,只有四分之一的家庭有资格获得租金援助的人得到了它,限制了他们住在负担得起的、稳定的房子或机会更高的社区的能力。
- 加强和执行对租房者的法律保护。租房者和房东之间的权力不平衡使租房者面临住房不稳定和无家可归的风险。应该要求房东提出驱逐的正当理由,并为所有面临驱逐的房客提供咨询的权利。
- 扩大和保持经济适用房供应。不是一个州或国会选区在美国,有足够的经济适用房供应给低收入家庭。保留和建造更多的公共住房,扩大国家住房信托基金,并利用联邦激励措施或要求改革地方分区。
- 增加社区和非营利性住房所有权。这种方法使居民能够控制重要的社区资产,保持社区负担得起,并使人们在经济衰退时不太可能失去家园。
- 通过设立永久性国家住房稳定基金,向陷入危机的家庭提供紧急租房援助。数百万家庭只要经受一次金融冲击,就会面临经济困难,而经济困难可能会让他们很快无家可归。
在短短几个月内,我们目睹了现代科学开发多种COVID-19疫苗的力量和智慧。我们需要同样的力量和意志来确保每个人的住房稳定和机会,否则我们的集体健康和经济福祉将继续处于危险之中。
了解更多关于rwjf支持的倡议和社区资源努力确保人人享有安全、稳定、负担得起的住房。
Diane Yentel is the President and CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, a membership organization dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.
" data-isabstract="false" class="cmp-text">关于作者
Giridhar Mallya,RWJF高级政策官员,是一名公共卫生医生和卫生政策专家。他致力于推动政策在实现健康文化方面的作用,特别是在州和地方一级,他认为基金会是“在整理用于制定促进更健康的人、社区和机构的政策的证据方面的国家领导者。”
黛安娜Yentel是全国低收入住房联盟的总裁兼首席执行官,该联盟是一个会员制组织,致力于实现社会公正的公共政策,确保美国最低收入的人拥有负担得起的体面住房。