According to a report released by UCLA’s Williams Institute, nearly 50 percent of LGBT renters who are behind on rent fear being evicted from their homes within the next two months. The report’s release comes after the Supreme Court last week blocked the CDC’s federal eviction moratorium.
The Supreme Court’s decision to end the federal eviction moratorium will likely disproportionately affect LGBT people. Researchers at the Williams Institute found that 19 percent of LGBT people were behind on their rent, and of those renters, 47 percent feared eviction within the next two months. In comparison to the nearly one-fifth of LGBT renters who are behind on payments, the study found that 14 percent of non-LGBT renters are behind on rent.
LGBT people of color are even more likely to face eviction due to the end of the eviction moratorium. 30 percent of LGBT people of color were behind on rent compared to only 10 percent of white LGBT people behind on payments. Over half of those LGBT people of color behind on rent payments feared being evicted from their homes.
Overall, more LGBT people rent than non-LGBT people, with 41 percent of LGBT adults renting compared to 25 percent of non-LGBT adults. LGBT people of color are also more like to rent as well, at 47 percent.
“A key component to a person’s housing stability is whether they own or rent,” said Bianca D.M. Wilson, the lead author of the report and Senior Scholar of Public Policy at the Williams Institute. “The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the risk that LGBTQ people—and LGBT people of color in particular—will lose their housing as federal eviction protections are set to expire in October.”
Those federal eviction protections, however, were eliminated by the Supreme Court last week, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk of being evicted from their homes.
Young LGBT people are especially at risk without eviction protections. Youth who are evicted and become unhoused are much more likely to be exploited by human traffickers, according to True Colors United, an organization that supports LGBT youth experiencing homelessness.
“For young people, the cascade of negative consequences due to eviction extends well beyond the loss of housing and can impact their lives for years or decades to come,” True Colors United wrote in a press release. “During an ongoing deadly global pandemic and resulting economic downturn, it is incumbent upon the government to protect low-income renters from eviction.”
Sources: UCLA Williams Institute August 2021; Feminist Newswire 8/27/21; NBC News 9/1/21; True Colors United 8/27/21
