National Housing Law Project Leads 200+ Orgs In New Letter Urging Congress To Protect Tenants From Avoidable Evictions
Amid Proposed Massive HUD Cuts, Real Estate Industry-Backed Legislation Would Make it Easier to Evict Tenants in HUD and USDA Housing
WASHINGTON, D.C.—The National Housing Law Project (NHLP) today sent a letter to congressional leadership signed by over 200 national, state, and local organizations urging Congress to protect tenants from unfair, unexpected, and avoidable evictions at any time. In states across the country, landlords can evict tenants in the private market with little, if any, notice. However, federal law requires a 30-day notice for millions of tenants living in housing under the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Department of Agriculture (USDA), other federal housing programs, as well as other federally-backed housing. By giving these tenants 30 days to fix issues with their tenancy before their landlord can file an eviction, the law helps both tenants and landlords avoid undergoing a costly eviction process. NHLP and the George Washington University Health Justice Policy and Advocacy Clinic will soon meet with congressional leaders to discuss protecting the 30-day notice requirement and prevent a reversal of this critical protection.
“In light of the ongoing housing crisis in the United States, preventing evictions from federally-assisted and federally-backed housing is paramount. Repealing the 30-day notice will only contribute to rising eviction rates, increase costs for property owners, and penalize the most vulnerable and lowest-income Americans,” wrote the National Housing Law Project in the letter. “We urge you to protect our country’s most vulnerable renters from the devastating and preventable effects of eviction by rejecting the Respect State Housing Laws Act.”
The letter comes after lawmakers backed by real estate industry corporations reintroduced bicameral legislation that would repeal 30-day notice and put seniors, families with children, people of color, people with disabilities, and veterans at immediate risk of displacement or even homelessness. If passed, the bill would roll back existing protections that tenants, landlords, and courts rely upon, and shrink the notice period for an eviction across the country from 30 days to as little as five days or less in federal housing programs and federally-backed properties.
Read the National Housing Law Project’s letter and statement in response to the 30-day notice repeal bill. Find here a research brief with data showing how 30-day notice protects tenants and stabilizes communities.