Housing - US

Duke Study: Eviction, Utility Shutoff Moratoriums Slowed COVID-19 Spread A new study by Duke University shows that moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs helped reduce COVID-19 infection rates. Duke University researchers analyzed the impact of policies intended to prevent evictions or shutoffs of essential services such as water and electricity. The study encompasses all counties in the U.S. between March and November of 2020. 88.5 WFDD

A new study by Duke University shows that moratoriums on evictions and utility shutoffs helped reduce COVID-19 infection rates.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Clarence Hamer doesn’t expect to hang on to his house much longer.

His downstairs tenant owes him nearly $50,000 in back rent on the four-bedroom duplex he owns in Brownsville, Brooklyn. Without those rental payments, Hamer has been unable to pay the thousands he owes in heat, hot water and property taxes. In September, after exhausting his life savings, he stopped paying the mortgage, too.

“I don’t have any corporate backing or any other type of insurance,” said Hamer, a 46-year-old landlord who works for the city of New York. “All I have is my home, and it seems apparent that I’m going to lose it.”

America’s mom-and-pop landlords, along with their tenants, have been dangling by a thread for nine months. Now, with Congress still deadlocked over the contours of a second pandemic stimulus package, they are entering a new housing abyss, a perilous period of pandemic limbo as the last of the safety nets are set to expire.

Carlos Ortega, a worker with Clesi Foundations, moves support wood at a house being raised in Harvey in August 2011. (Photo by Susan Poag, The Times-Picayune archive)

nola.com - by Sara Sneath - March 11, 2019

A study to determine which homes in Southwest Coastal Louisiana will qualify for voluntary relocation or elevation recently received funding after much back-and-forth between parish officials and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

While financing for the study only accounts for a small chunk of the overall project, it represents the first time a non-structural project within the state’s coastal master plan has been given funding, said Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority of Louisiana Board Chairman Chip Kline. Flood proofing businesses, home elevations and voluntary home acquisitions are all considered non-structural measures. The most recent version of the 50-year plan estimates 26,569 homes and businesses across Louisiana will be eligible for help, at a cost of more than $6 billion.

Hurricane Harvey was only the latest storm to flood many residents in the Memorial City area, and numerous other Houston-area neighborhoods, such as these homes near Interstate 10 East. ( Brett Coomer / Houston Chronicle )  Photo: Brett Coomer, Staff / Houston Chronicle

houstonchronicle.com - by Mike Morris - January 19, 2019

In Texas’ first legislative session post Hurricane Harvey, lawmakers have filed bills aimed at better alerting homeowners to their flood risk, lessening the damage of future storms and lowering disaster victims’ tax bills.

Whether these or similar proposals pass, a key question confronting lawmakers is whether to allocate cash for disaster recovery and prevention from Texas’ so-called rainy day fund, which is projected to reach $15 billion at the end of the coming biennium if not touched.

A routine Senate bill providing supplemental funding for the 2018-2019 biennium proposes to draw $1.2 billion from the Economic Stabilization Fund to cover various state agencies’ Harvey expenses. The bill also includes seven placeholder allocations to several agencies, with appropriations for Harvey costs to be filled in later.