After a failed attempt by the Biden administration for an extension, a nationwide moratorium on residential expulsions will expire Saturday. This puts hundreds of thousands of tenants at high risk of losing their shelter while federal funding to pay their rent is untapped.This was a disappointing setback for President Biden's team, which had tried for months to fix the dysfunctional emergency rent relief program that helped landlords and renters in need. The White House, desperate to avoid a wave of evictions and running out of time, abruptly changed course on Thursday. It handed responsibility to Congress, prompting a chaotic and ultimately unsuccessful rescue effort by Democrats in Congress on Friday.The end result of months of frustration was evident in those efforts. The White House had pressed states to accelerate housing assistance for tenants, with mixed results prior to the moratorium expiring. The Trump administration's inaction left no plan for the program. Mr. Bidens team struggled to create a sustainable federal-local funding pipeline. This was made difficult by the resistance of state governments, who view the initiative as a burden, and the ambivalence many landlords.The $47 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program has disbursed only $3Billion to date. This is 7% of the cash that was supposed to be used to prevent a crisis.
