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MNI DATA IMPACT: 20M Americans Struggle to Pay Rent Next Month

MNI (Washington)
WASHINGTON (MNI)

Roughly 20 million Americans have little-to-no confidence in their ability to pay rent next month, nearly on par with the 23 million who felt very secure, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

About 7.8 million people have "no confidence" they will be able to pay, according to the bureau's Household Pulse Survey, conducted November 25 to December 7. That's up from 6.3 million between November 11 - 23. The number of people who were "slightly" confident about making rent was little changed at 9.5 million.

The national eviction moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September is set to expire at the end of the month, and between 2.4 million and 5 million evictions could take place in January, the financial-advisory firm Stout Risius Ross estimates.

Another 13 million Americans were "moderately" confident they would be able to pay rent next month and 23 million had "high confidence."

Households making USD50,000 or more per year accounted for just under 2 million of those reporting "no confidence" and 13 million of those reporting a "high confidence."

UNEMPLOYMENT AND RENT

Some 4.6 million Americans reporting "no confidence" in their ability to pay rent next month were unemployed through December 7, up from 4 million through November 23.

But 7.5 million unemployed workers also said they were highly confident that they would be able to pay their rent in January, unchanged from the previous survey. Those respondents were also more likely to have used unemployment insurance benefits in the last week to meet basic spending needs, Census reported.

Roughly 853,000 unemployed Americans filed an initial unemployment claim through December 5, the Labor Department reported last week, the most since September.

Just under 430,000 filed a claim under the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance program, extending benefits to gig workers and the self-employed. That program, along with the Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Compensation program, expires at the end of this month, leaving upwards of 13 million unemployed Americans without federal financial support.

MNI Washington Bureau | +1 202-371-2121 | brooke.migdon@marketnews.com
MNI Washington Bureau | +1 202-371-2121 | brooke.migdon@marketnews.com

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