The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended to Oct. 3 the moratorium on evicting tenants behind on paying for housing during the pandemic. The extension applies only in counties with “substantial” or “high” levels of community transmission of COVID-19.
Not all tenants are shielded: They must be able to show they struggled financially because their incomes fell during the pandemic, they applied for rental assistance and they have paid as much as possible along the way.
Even with the risk of immediate eviction pushed back, potential long-term harm to children continues to mount along with the pressure on parents, experts told Deseret News. While watching their debt climb if they can’t get rental assistance — unlikely to cover all their housing debt — families are living under a cloud of uncertainty that spills out to entire communities.
Kids disproportionately bear the brunt of the economic problems created or worsened by the pandemic, according to research for the Council on Contemporary Families by Ohio State University professor and sociologist Kristi Williams. She found two of the biggest challenges struggling families have faced in the pandemic, housing insecurity and food insufficiency, “have cumulative negative consequences that endure throughout the life course” when they are experienced by children.
The assertion is backed by years of research, including a study by a panel of national experts in Pediatrics nearly a decade ago. “Early experiences and environmental influences can leave a lasting signature on the genetic predispositions that affect emerging brain architecture and long-term health,” they wrote, noting “extensive evidence of the disruptive impacts of toxic stress” that link early adversity with learning and behavior problems, as well as physical and mental illness.
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