Back Rent Up In Oakland County: Analysis

BIRMINGHAM, MI — Around 6.3 million rental households nationwide could face eviction in the near future, despite the availability of extensive government funding for rental assistance.

More than 1 out of every 10 Oakland County rental households were in arrears as of early August, according to a new county-by-county analysis by Surgo Ventures, a nonprofit organization that uses data to analyze health and social problems in communities. An estimated 18,257 (12.5 percent) rental households are in danger of eviction.

The estimated number of households in arrears has gone up since July, when around 18,084 were behind.

Delinquent Oakland County households collectively owed $70,699,357 in back rent as of early August, according to Surgo Ventures' estimates, for an average of $3,981 each.

Michigan and Oakland County roughly align when it comes to the percentage of renters who are behind. About 14 percent of Michigan renters are in arrears.

The U.S. Supreme Court struck down a federal eviction moratorium extension from President Joe Biden's administration in late August. The moratorium was first put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in September 2020.

The problem isn’t the lack of appropriated funds — more than $46 billion in emergency rental assistance (ERA) has been approved by Congress — , but the money is mostly sitting unused in state and local assistance programs.

“ERA programs are up and running for the large part, but they are slow to get money into the hands of renters,” Surgo Ventures senior research scientist Aaron Dibner-Dunlap told Patch.

The latest Surgo Ventures analysis found that the number of households who are at risk of eviction hasn’t changed much over the past couple of months, despite $1.7 billion in rental assistance being disbursed in July.

"You had a sort of limited ability to process incoming applications, and the burden on the applicant was and still continues to be high,” Dibner-Dunlap said.

The U.S. Treasury Department updated its guidance to states and local governments with a list of best practices from across the country. The department encouraged self-verification of information instead of having landlords or tenants gather burdensome amounts of documentation.

Some states and local governments have made eviction diversion programs mandatory before an eviction goes through. Among them are state of Massachusetts and city of Philadelphia.

The end of federal unemployment benefits in early September could put more people behind on rent as well, Dibner-Dunlap said.

“It stands to reason more people could fall behind on rent before they can recover," he said.

Editor’s note: This post was automatically generated using data from Surgo Ventures. Surgo Ventures estimates the Oakland County rental arrears rate is between 9.7 and 15.2 percent at 95 percent confidence. Feedback can be sent to content@patch.com.