The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued a report March 1 warning of more than 11 million families facing losing their housing due to evictions and foreclosures once federal, state and local pandemic protections come to an end unless additional public and private actions are taken.
The report said more than 11 million families are behind on their rent or mortgage payments: 2.1 million families are behind at least three months on mortgage payments, while 8.8 million are behind on rent. Homeowners alone are estimated to owe almost $90 billion in missed payments, the report said. CFPB noted that the last time this many families were behind on their mortgages was during the Great Recession.
“We have very little time to prevent millions of families from losing their homes to eviction and foreclosure,” warned CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio. “At the CFPB, we are working hard to help homeowners and renters as the U.S. begins to turn a painful crisis, caused by the pandemic, into a robust recovery. We know small landlords are struggling, too, with many dipping into savings or using credit cards to make it through the pandemic. We want everyone—homeowners and renters, landlords, and mortgage servicers—to have the tools they need now to avoid unnecessary evictions and foreclosures.”
