Protesters march in Long Beach for renters’ rights on Jan. 20, 2015. Photo: Ron Javorsky
Some LGBTQ renters report being behind on rent and fear eviction from their homes in the next few months, according to a report.
The report comes out one week after the Supreme Court struck down an extended eviction moratorium.
Approximately 20% of LGBTQ renters report being behind on rent, compared to 14% of non-LGBTQ renters, according to the report by the Williams Institute, a think tank at the UCLA School of Law.
Also, LGBTQ renters who are behind on rent are slightly more likely than non-LGBTQ renters who are behind on payments to fear eviction within the next two months, at 47% and 46%, respectively.
“A key component to a person’s housing stability is whether they own or rent,” lead author Bianca D.M. Wilson, senior scholar of public policy at the Williams Institute, said in a news release. “The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated the risk that LGBT people — and LGBT people of color in particular — will lose their housing” as federal eviction protections have been removed.
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Researchers used data from the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, collected from July 21 to Aug. 2, to examine rental housing stability late in the COVID-19 pandemic among LGBTQ people compared to non-LGBTQ people, accounting for differences by race, the news release said.
Last month, the U.S. Census Bureau released data showing LGBTQ+ Americans experience economic distress at a higher rate than their straight and cisgender peers.
The report is the latest in a growing field of research showing the COVID-19 pandemic is having a harsher impact on LGBTQ people, particularly LGBTQ people of color and LGBTQ youth, than heterosexual people.
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The end of the eviction moratorium will have a similar disproportionate impact, according to the Williams Institute report.
Rent their homes
- 41% of LGBTQ people
- 25% of non-LGBTQ adults
- 47% of LGBTQ people of color
- 37% of white LGBTQ people
Behind on rent
- 30% of LGBTQ people of color
- 10% of LGBTQ white people
- 19% of non-LGBTQ people of color
- 10% of white non-LGBTQ people
Fear losing their home in two months
- 51% of LGBTQ people of color
- 38% of white LGBTQ people
- 46% of non-LGBTQ people people of color
- 47% of white non-LGBTQ people
Evictions can resume unless a state or local jurisdiction has implemented its own moratorium. Six states — California, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York and Washington — and the District of Columbia have their own moratoriums in effect that aren’t impacted by the Supreme Court’s decision.
