 So when it comes to the moratorium on evictions, it feels like we're just kicking the can down the road again and again and again and This is it just feels like we're delaying a crisis But we're not actually adequately addressing what is going to be a crisis if The moratorium eviction ever does Expire and it doesn't get renewed So this is from Brett Wilkins of common dreams who writes progressive say 30-day eviction moratorium extension Not enough this only puts more pressure on our country to find a permanent solution to the housing crisis said representative Rokana, we can't keep kicking the can down the road and he's exactly correct about this So let's read a little bit of this article We're not gonna get to the entire thing But I want to at least get the you know the gist of it Progressive lawmakers and tenant advocates on Thursday said that while the Biden administration's 30-day extension of the COVID-19 eviction moratorium Would provide brief but welcome relief for millions of people facing imminent eviction US leaders must work to find a permanent solution to the nation's housing crisis absolutely US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director dr. Rochelle will inskey said Thursday that the eviction moratorium will be extended from June 30th To the to July 31st and that the move is intended to be the final extension. So that's a little bit frightening to hear 30 days will we have a solution by then? I mean When it comes to American government getting anything accomplished in 30 days is a bit Worrisome because it seems unlikely Well, some housing advocates applauded the temporary reprieve others argued that much more must be done to address the crisis It's not enough activist and podcast host Thomas spite said of the extension California alone has 158,000 people behind on rent collectively owing $4,700 each a single month will not fix lack of a money problem Yeah delaying a crisis. I mean the delay is welcome. I'm not going to Poo-poo that I think that that's good and progressives are right to applaud the 30-day extension having said that though it's still a crisis and We we have to do something about this and yeah as James from the internet says 12 million evictions is probably not going to go too well Yeah, I mean if you thought that you know the civil disobedience that we saw in 2020 was bad If that many people lose their homes and they have nowhere to go. I mean things are gonna get a lot a lot worse so this is just like there's an iceberg dead ahead and we're sailing straight towards it and Every so often we'll just like You know push the iceberg back or I guess we should say like slam on the brakes So we're not moving as fast, but we're still headed in that direction and we have to take meaningful action So let me read this tweet here So this is from Tara raghoover who says the CDC has officially extended the federal eviction moratorium by 30 days To the end of July. This is a relief But it won't last long even if states and cities hustle to distribute rental assistance this month Millions of tenants will still be stuck with massive debts So think about this you you lost your job during COVID-19 and perhaps, you know You finally are maybe getting back on your feet, but all of a sudden months of back rent is due What do you do What do you do so these folks are facing eviction and this is a really serious issue I mean, this is a crisis that I don't see getting one talked about enough and And and to more importantly addressed in any concrete way by Congress at all We can run around in circles every month talking about an eviction cliff or tsunami or whatever We want to call it if we don't make policy to solve for root causes the violence of Commodifying basic needs an eviction disaster is inevitable millions will never recover and this is just it like I really like this tweet because it truly Tries to put things into perspective. I don't think people fully comprehend what's coming How bad this is gonna be if this isn't addressed and by the way evictions are happening right now Great point even while the federal order remains in effect I live and organize in Missouri where judges have exploited shortcomings of the federal eviction moratorium Judges in Kansas City have been evicting tenants since last May. I mean just like for a second I don't want to just like read over that Let's just think about that like they've been evicting tenants during a pandemic the evictions never stopped So I mean like even when I talk about this eviction crisis that's coming That might even be an oversimplification because there already is a housing crisis in the United States and evictions have been happening But we're not just talking about like, you know a consistent stream of evictions we're talking about a massive amount of evictions all at once and It seems like there's just there's no plan There's no plan and it's horrifying and I don't understand how there's zero sense of urgency from lawmakers let's say you get evicted and You know, you can't come up with months of back pay or back rent you get evicted and then five years later down the road You know, you're finally back on your feet after getting evicted. Well now you want to rent again. Guess what? Now That's gonna be on your rental history. It's gonna be that much more difficult for you to Find a landlord that's gonna want to rent to you if you have this blemish on your history So it's like all of these issues It compounds it affects you in a really long-term concrete way And it's it's gonna be devastating So I do want to get to the lawmakers who are trying to address this on Tuesday ahead of the extension announcement A group of 44 Democratic House lawmakers led by representatives Ayanna Presley, Jimmy Gomez and Cory Bush Sent a letter to President Joe Biden and Wolensky urging them to strengthen and extend the moratorium The impact of the federal moratorium cannot be overstated They wrote and the need to strengthen and extend it is an urgent matter of wealth racial and economic justice Newsome wants to pay all-back rent owed by low-income Californians using pandemic relief funds so From the perspective of a state, I think that this makes sense because this would fall under Pandemic relief funds. I mean people lost their jobs and their livelihoods because of the pandemic So it makes sense to use the funds available to you So California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsome facing a Republican-led recall is pushing the state legislature To approve his plan to use 5.2 billion in federal pandemic relief money to pay 100% of unpaid rent owed by low-income residents Limakers are also considering several other pandemic aid measures proposed by the governor as they finalized the state's annual budget including sending $600 stimulus checks to low-income Californians providing universal pre-k and investing in new housing For those at risk of homelessness the state has the cash to meet the need It got more than 27 billion dollars from the American Rescue Plan Which passed Congress in March and is enjoying an unexpected budget surplus boosted in part by capital gains tax revenues from wealthy Californian residents California also received a combined 4.7 billion in federal funds allocated specifically for rental assistance from the American Rescue Plan and the economic relief package Congress passed in December so this Makes sense right You make it so that way if People for months missed their rent payments. They aren't expected To come up with like five six months of rent That's that's not feasible for so many people and this is why it will lead to millions of people getting evicted So to have something like this to where you know, their rental payments will resume You know come August 1st, but they don't have to pay months that they missed that that's a different story Right, that's much more reasonable and it's not going to solve the issue Right because we have to decommodify housing entirely But will it be better than forcing millions of people to pay like months and months of background? Yeah, obviously I will say that you know since he's facing a recall effort And he isn't necessarily too popular with progressives who he's gonna need to survive this recall effort He's doing this to be populist, but here's the thing. I don't give a damn why he's doing this I don't care what his motivations are. He could be motivated by for altruistic reasons He could be motivated by this recall effort. What he's doing here This is what's needed to make sure that Californians don't have to pay months and months of back rent that they owe because they lost their jobs I think it's it's common sense. So he gets credit here. I mean that doesn't mean that he's a good governor In other areas, he's basically a corporate democratic extraordinaire But that doesn't mean that this isn't a good plan And you know if he's able to stop a housing crisis and an eviction crisis come August 1st in his state That's good. That's really great news