AS A MOM AND POP LANDLORD, I consider myself a part of the middle class community and perform an important service- providing housing for others-- as well as contributing much back in taxes to my local state and Federal government. Like all Americans, We suffered in the Pandemic; financially, in our own health, in uncertainty and fear; and in risk to the lives of our families, friends and tenants.
BUT MY GOVERNMENT in return for providing housing, gave me no relief. Instead, it laid additional burdens and risk on me, and made my condition in the Pandemic much worse. Without giving my tenants financial aid upfront, you instead told them they no longer have to pay their rent-- and can live off of me indefinitely. On a forced running tab that everyone knows most will never be able to repay. An impossible situation doomed to fail.This is in essence, what an 'Eviction Moratorium' is for a landlord.
MORATORIUMS ARE BAD POLICY which will inevitably require me to house, maintain and pay the bills of other Americans who don't work, can't or refuse to pay rent, free of charge... month after month with no known end I can possibly budget for. They force me to uphold my side of the lease contract for nothing endlessly, while my tenant's side is Sharpied out- and I am forbidden from exiting the agreement. I can't even have my own property back, which I worked for and purchased fairly. They strip me of my right to see a judge if my tenant takes advantage of me, and refuses to pay rent. I also know that only a percentage of backrent is ever recovered from tenants who run up large tabs 'on the house'. I may never see the rent I was robbed of by the Moratorium laws, after providing fair housing and fulfilling my end of the lease.
Moratoriums are not only morally wrong, but dangerous because they take away citizens 5th Amendment rights of due process, and are in effect government enforced private housing. Operating under endless IOUs is bad business policy anywhere, and forcing a small business to run this way, is forcing it to fail.
SMALL LANDLORDS HAVE MANY EXPENSES including mortgages, property taxes, tenant utilities, maintenance and upkeep, repairs; as well as our own living expenses, groceries and housing payments. We have also suffered from COVID issues just as much as any other Americans during the Pandemic. We are real Americans too, just like the people we house.
WE ALL WANT TO GIVE TENANTS HOMES, but Moratoriums hurt both tenants and landlords. Landlords lose money and their businesses; tenants credit scores are ruined, they accumulate impossible debt, and their records inevitably include evictions. Both sides are stressed tremendously. It is NOT a solution that works.The humane and fair solution for everyone that works is making government guaranteed rent assistance available Fair and Upfront for tenants to apply for, who have a genuine COVID related need. Just as the same government does every day effectively with unemployment assistance, Section 8 housing, food stamps, and a myriad of other assistance programs.Not forcing small landlords into financial distress, making them have to choose between evicting tenants and loss of their business, and in the end destroying the nation's middle class owned affordable housing. Many small landlords operate on slim margins and do not have the financial ability to carry large amounts of forced debt, with no guarantee of ever getting just compensation.
THE EMERGENCY IS OVER. It is time for smarter solutions instead of kicking the can down the road with a manufactured 'eviction tsunami', to the financial distress of everyone.
WE PETITION THE GOVERNMENT TO STOP endlessly renewing the unfair, unconstitutional Moratorium extensions, and to fairly require both sides to honor their lease agreements again. We want the government to give us back our access to the courts and due process. And we want it to make fair, upfront and timely financial assistance available for ALL our tenants who the government decides qualify for help in the Pandemic. We know our government is able to make these guarantees. We want our government to stand behind their housing programs honorably, not cheat America's small housing providers.
