These Californians are especially worried about paying rent during coronavirus. Is help coming?
Latino and Black tenants in California are much more worried than their white and Asian counterparts about paying their rent in the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic, according to data taken by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The fears reflect the disproportionate economic impact of the pandemic Latino and Black communities. The Black and Latino unemployment rates have been significantly higher the white unemployment rate, and those groups have also had higher COVID-19 infection rates.
From July 9 to July 14, the most recent week of data available, 43% of Latino renters and 41% of Black renters in California said they had no or slight confidence they could pay their rent next month. That’s compared to 33% of Asian renters and 25% of white renters who said the same.
For now, many Californians at risk of missing rent cannot be evicted. Gov. Gavin Newsom has extended local governments’ ability to ban evictions until Sept. 30. The California Legislature is also considering multiple bills to extend that ban on evictions further.
But eviction bans don’t ease the burden of owing rent payments eventually, meaning debts can pile up.
The data was taken from the Household Pulse Survey, a new data product created by the U.S. Census Bureau to measure experiences and needs during the COVID-19 pandemic, and assembled by the California Housing Partnership, a research organization for affordable housing.
More than 586,000 Californians don’t think they can make their mortgage payment next month, according to the Census Bureau data, while another 1.1 million are only slightly confident.
“Racial disparities in access to safe, stable, and affordable housing were present long before the COVID-19 pandemic hit California,” the California Housing Partnership said in a written statement. “The latest data from the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey shows that the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic has only intensified racial disparities with respect to confidence in people’s ability to remain housed.”
In June, the unemployment rate among Black people was 15.1%, among Hispanic people was 14.5% and among White people was 10.1%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Black people and Latinos are also disproportionately more likely to contract COVID-19. Latinos make up 18.6% of the U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census, but 32.1% of U.S. coronavirus cases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Black people make up 13.4% of the U.S. population, but 19.9% of U.S. coronavirus cases
Latino renters in California have consistently had less confidence than the average Californian about being able to pay next month’s rent since at least mid-April. Black renters have been more varied, with lack of confidence spiking to over 50% in the last week of June, but in other weeks was about the same as average renter anxiety.
Congress is currently negotiating a coronavirus help package that seems likely to include another $1,200 stimulus payment to single people making less than $75,000 and $2,400 to couples making less than $150,000.
Congress had increased unemployment payments by $600 weekly, but that has now expired. Democrats want to continue those increased payments until January 2021, while Republicans want to phase it down to a $200 per week increase in unemployment payments.
This story was originally published July 29, 2020 at 11:05 AM with the headline "These Californians are especially worried about paying rent during coronavirus. Is help coming?."
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