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A report by an international consulting firm is predicting as many as 300,000 evictions of New Jersey renters in the next four months unless action is taken.
Stout Risius Ross, a Baltimore-based management consulting firm, analyzed the New Jersey renter landscape under the COVID-19 pandemic for the Coalition of Housing Advocates. The report was issued July 23 (https://bit.ly/33zmKiY).
The analysis suggests that as much as 40% of New Jersey renter households will not be able to meet their rent payment in August. The report identifies the last several months of unpaid rent in the state to run to $687 million.
New Jersey’s moratorium on evictions is still in place, but federal mandates against eviction expired.
The report states that the strain on the social services network and the medical system could run to billions of dollars, especially during the pandemic.
The report did not provide specific county projections.
Taking the data relationships explained in the report and applying them to the latest census estimates for Cape May County produces an expectation of between 2,800 and 3,000 county residents who may fit the model projections in the report.
A complicating factor is that the high magnitude of filings and potential evictions would be compressed into a relatively short period.
Many renters may be facing hardship due to high unemployment levels, especially now that the federal booster for unemployment compensation ended.
Several property owners went months without revenue, even though they must continue tax and insurance payments. Many may also have to maintain mortgages, which, in turn, may have gone into forbearance.
The report calls for a “sufficient time period” during which renter households could “repay unpaid rent.” No details are provided on what such a program would look like or how it would be structured.
