Small-Time Landlords ‘Hanging on By Their Fingernails’ as Eviction Moratorium Drags On

One of Raj Sookram’s tenants stopped paying rent in December. Another man hasn’t paid him a cent in 20 months. He now owes Sookram over $20,000.

One woman stopped paying this spring, Sookram said, then demanded that he fix her hot water heater when it blew. That ended with city officials threatening Sookram with daily fines.

In all, Sookram said, about half of the tenants living in his 13 Rochester, New York, rental properties are behind on rent. Sookram said he’s struggling to pay his bills and taxes. He’s had to take out loans and work side handyman gigs to provide for his wife and three kids.

As the coronavirus pandemic drags on – and as the federal government continues to extend its legally dubious eviction moratorium – more and more people are “jumping on the bandwagon, like, ‘Oh, I don’t have to pay you,’” Sookram said.

Raj Sookram (Ryan Mills)

The problem has been exacerbated by the extremely slow distribution of $46.5 billion in emergency rental assistance approved by Congress in late 2020 and early 2021. And as some leaders in the real estate and rental industries have pointed out, that money wasn’t even enough to cover the $57 billion in unpaid rent due at the end of last year. They peg the likely total due today at over $70 billion, and growing.