The Covid-19 pandemic has laid the groundwork for a future rental housing crisis, with landlords tightening their screening criteria, using alternative eviction processes and increasing rent rates, according to an analysis of data by Urban Institute of a survey by Avail, an online platform that provides rental management tools. And the housing supply shortage has made things worse, the organization says.

Housing affordability has been a critical public policy issue since the start of the pandemic. In fact, 49% of those surveyed by the Pew Research Center in October 2021 said the availability of affordable housing in their local community is a major problem. This is up 10 percentage points from early 2018, the Pew research shows.

Nevertheless, a key reason evictions fell during the pandemic is because of federal, state and local bans, according to Urban Institute. Despite the federal ban, landlords could still evict tenants who created a problem, and 38% of landlords who missed rental incomes initiated eviction proceedings, the report says. (The federal ban was ordered in 2020 and ended in November.)

To continue reading the rest of the article, please click on the source link below:

https://www.route-fifty.com/finance/2022/03/pandemic-creating-rental-housing-crisis/363323/