Joe Biden calls for rent and mortgage forgiveness and a $15,000 first-time homebuyer credit.
What We Know:
- Former Vice President Joe Biden backed rent and mortgage forgiveness for those struggling to get by during the coronavirus pandemic.
- The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee was interviewed on the Snapchat show “Good Luck America”. Biden called for the federal government to help keep jobless Americans in their homes and apartments durring the deepest economic downturn since the Great Depression.
- Biden stated “forgiveness. Not paid later, forgiveness. It’s critically important to people who are in the lower-income strata”. The comments Biden made in the interview seemed to have aligned with Democrats widely seen as moderate with the party left flank.
- A group of House progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the leaders of the Congresional Progressive Caucus have rallied behind a bill from Rep. Ilhan Omar to cancel all rent and mortgage payments from March 2020 through the end of the pandemic. This bill would set up federal relief funds for landlords and lenders to recoup the cost of mortgage and rent payments if they agree to abide by a set renter protections for five years.
- The CARES Act put in place in March allowed any U.S owner with federally-backed mortgages to seek 180 days of mortgage forbearance, delaying but not cacelling payments owed. The Trump adminisrtation aslo imposed a foreclosure and eviction ban across federally backed mortgages and public housing, while states and mayors across the country have approved similar measures.
Wednesday, House Democrats also proposed a $175 billion in direct aid and grants to local governments to help renters and homeowners cover their rent and utility bills.
