Emergency rental assistance is the best solution, not an eviction moratorium.
For over two months, families across Minnesota have been living under a heightened and hostile immigration enforcement presence in their communities. The economic fallout has been immediate and severe. People are afraid to go to work, open their businesses, or even complete everyday tasks like grocery shopping. As businesses close and parents can’t safely go to work, families are losing the income they rely on to pay their rent. As a result, the number of families falling behind on rent and facing eviction has increased significantly.
When families can’t pay rent, stopping evictions feels like the fastest way to protect them. But what we learned during the pandemic is that eviction moratoriums without accompanying rental assistance create significant debt traps that ultimately result in homelessness.
When rent is paused via a moratorium but not paid, the debt accumulates and follows families long after protections are lifted. After the COVID eviction moratorium was lifted, we saw a surge of families with rental debt as one of their biggest barriers to achieving stable housing, and the need for shelter rose at the same time. Additionally, many affordable housing providers operate on thin margins and cannot afford to go months without being paid.
If the goal is to prevent eviction and keep families housed, then we have to create win-win solutions. That’s why we advocate for direct financial support in the form of emergency rental assistance given out in meaningful increments (three or six months). Families don’t get caught in impossible debt traps, and landlords get paid. Moratoriums are unnecessary when we choose to address the problem holistically and with foresight. Cities and counties can act now and invest in rental stabilization funds that pay landlords directly while keeping families housed.
Eviction moratoriums only delay displacement; they don’t prevent it. Rental assistance is the only solution that prevents displacement for the short- and long-term.
