PJ Media: Listening to radical activists, you might be fooled into thinking that the government’s demonstrably illegal eviction moratorium had no downside whatsoever. In fact, the only harm done was to rich, white, property owners who could afford to give their tenants a small break in rent during the COVID crisis.
“It is an abomination for kings to commit wickedness,
For a throne is established by righteousness.” Proverbs 16:12
That’s not even close to being true. There are plenty of victims of the government’s eviction moratorium — just like there are winners and losers every time the government chooses to “help” people. The problem comes from those who pretend there are only happy winners when the government prevents commerce from going on. In truth, there are a whole bunch of losers too — victims of an altruistic government that chooses one class of people — tenants — over another — landlords.
Covid relief measures like the Paycheck Protection Program were designed to help the vulnerable while dispersing the cost among current and future taxpayers. The eviction moratoriums are different: They impose severe hardships on certain people in the name of helping others. The toll is especially high on small landlords like Ms. Morey, who must pay for insurance, mortgages, property taxes and upkeep regardless of whether they’re receiving rent payments. Ms. Morey says Ms. Santucci owes her almost $16,000.
Problem tenants are fairly rare — about as rare as greedy, uncaring property owners. The system operated fairly well during times of normal stress like bad economic times or a tenant getting sick and unable to pay rent. If the tenant had been reasonably good — paying on time, not trashing the property — the landlord generally worked out satisfactory arrangements with the tenant for payment. Read More …
