Generation rent” in the wake of the pandemic

Abstract

What fate awaits millions of tenants with rent arrears and piling debt as emergency rent relief measures and eviction moratoria that were rolled out in response to the Covid-19 crisis are phased out? A US Census Bureau survey in August showed that 8 million Americans were behind on rent, with 3.5 million of them stating that they were at risk of eviction. In the United Kingdom (UK), a large-scale survey carried out in May warned that 400,000 renting households (5% of all renters) had either been served an eviction notice or had been told they may be evicted. More than double that number expressed fear of eviction in the following months. In Spain, the Platform of People Affected by Mortgages (PAH, in Spanish) estimated in July that there were 80,000 households facing the risk of eviction, a figure that surpasses the evictions registered during the harshest year of the fallout from the previous financial crisis.