'Can I be evicted during coronavirus in the US?' (ProPublica, 18 May 2020)

• In the US, the federal government "ordered a halt to all evictions until July 25 against tenants who can’t pay their rent in properties that have federally backed loans or that participate in certain programs".

• Because for many tenants it's not obvious whether they are protected or not, ProPublica has put together an interactive tool to find out whether you qualify: https://projects.propublica.org/covid-evictions/

• ProPublica also found out that some landlords were violating the federal ban by still evicting people:

"Landlords in at least four states have violated the eviction ban passed by Congress last month, a review of records shows, moving to throw more than a hundred people out of their homes."

Source: https://www.propublica.org/article/despite-federal-ban-landlords-are-still-moving-to-evict-people-during-the-pandemic

• This is a good example of follow-up journalism: a government approves a measure and we write news articles about it, great, sure, but what actually happens then? How are those measures implemented? Maybe they aren't? How are they enforced? What consequences are they having?

• When it comes to Europe, you can check the two open databases and the interactive map initiated by the Arena Housing Project and which compile announcements and measures regarding housing during the coronavirus crisis:

  • Announcements regarding the homeless

  • Measures on evictions and for tenants and mortgage-holders

  • Map showing measures about housing during the coronavirus crisis in Europe