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24 Journal CAN AMERICA STAVE OFF 'WAVE OF HOMELESSNESS'? Some 18 million homeowners and renters are late to pay the monthly housing bill, and about a third of those expect to face eviction or foreclosure in the coming months, reported the US Census Bureau in November. According to an article in Business Insider, the outlook is especially dim for renters as well as smaller-scale landlords who rely on tenants' rent. Tenants nationwide could owe a total of $70 billion in back rent by the year's end," BI reports, citing an economist from Moody's Analytics. "Making matters worse is that many of those who are expected to pay that back rent are also likely receiving unemploy- ment benefits set to expire by the end of the year. A recent report found that about 12 million Americans could lose those benefits on December 26." Metro areas including New York City, Houston, and Atlanta are at higher risk for in- creased homelessness, reported BI. e Census report, the publication pointed out, suggested that "the New York metro area alone could carry out hundreds of thousands of evictions and foreclosures in the coming months." Citing a leader from the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, BI report- ed that the evictions would also result in increased needs for social services. "e costs of emergency shelter, inpa- tient medical care, emergency medical care, foster care, and juvenile delinquency could spike, it said, putting further stress on local governments and public agencies during the coronavirus pandemic." Even extensions of foreclosure moratoria, more stimulus, and increased crisis-related unemployment benefits would not necessar- ily stave off pending problems, according to Business Insider's Taylor Borden. "Experts have said that even if moratori- ums are extended and unemployment benefits continue, that could simply be kicking the can down the road, delaying a wave of homeless- ness," she wrote. e article goes on to explore the idea of federal rent and mortgage forgiveness, which President-elect Joe Biden reportedly supports. "Biden said in an interview with Vanity Fair in May that postponing housing pay- ments wasn't enough, and that forgiveness is 'critically important to people who are in the lower-income strata,'" Borden pointed out, adding a note about the President elect's plans, detailed on his website, to transform housing and real estate.