The day the rent stood still

Well here we are at the first turn of a new month in the Time Of The Covid. Rent is due. How many are able to pay?  Even after three emergency acts of Congress and a few local declarations meant to protect renters, the answer is probably not as many as you may think. The emergency net we've thrown up has many holes.

The recently passed federal stimulus "CARES" act includes a ban on evictions and late fees that extends only until the end of July. After that, there's nothing to stop anyone being told to pay back rent or else. On top of that, the federal ban only applies to properties receiving federally backed mortgages or government subsidies.  If your landlord owns the building outright, you are on your own.  For the time being, renters in New Orleans are protected by a temporary postponement of eviction hearings in the City Courts until April 24.  The Governor has also suspended evictions statewide until April 13. Both of those dates will likely be extended but probably not for very long.

In the meantime, a lot of people are still being evicted through extra-legal means. Landlords are either sending out threatening notices or just physically locking tenants out of buildings.  If this is happening to you, by the way, you may try contacting Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, the Louisiana Fair Housing Action Center, or the City Office of Community Development. Beyond that, though, homeowners and renters facing foreclosure or eviction have only inadequate protections which may or may not be extended on a month to month basis.

The only way to provide a more reliable form of relief is for Congress to step back in with a "Phase IV" stimulus bill. The previous efforts have done nothing to provide Americans with the certainty they will need to make it through the 12-18 months before we expect a COVID vaccine could be available. Only the federal government can do this. That's where the big money gun is. We just haven't fired it in the right direction yet.

As long as no one is sure when they'll be able to work, people are going to need an income. The plan to get it to them already exists. We just need to make it happen.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), for example, proposed giving everyone $2,000 on prepaid debit cards, then $1,000 per month until a year after the public health emergency subsides. Recurring payments had been a Democratic priority the party was unable to achieve in the bill that passed last week.

Unfortunately the designs for this and other necessary expanded safety net spending have become mired in the latest iteration of the perpetually doomed "Infrastructure Week" package. We don't have time to wait, though.

Right now state and local governments are expected to expand services and maintain staffing levels while tax revenues plummet. they're going to need emergency funding.  Louisiana will get $1.8 billion from the CARES Act. We're all but certain that won't be enough.  The City of New Orleans expects to find itself with a $100 million budget deficit by the end of the year. Of the state's $1.8 billion, how much will be available to address the city's needs?  Right now it isn't clear if the city is guaranteed any of it.

The centerpiece of the state aid is the $150 billion Coronavirus Relief Fund, which state, tribal, and local governments can use this year to meet costs connected to the virus. Each state will receive at least $1.25 billion — though the District of Columbia will only receive about $500 million — while the most populous states (California and Texas) will receive over $10 billion each, we estimate.  In most states, a portion of the funding will go to local governments serving populations over 500,000. Tribal governments will receive $8 billion.

New Orleans's current population is probably not even 400,000 (fill out your Census form, by the way) so it's very likely we're all at the mercy of the state government. Whenever the legislature manages to reconvene, we'll talk about that then.

But hey do you know who does have $100 million just sitting around right now?  That's right. It's our friends at the Convention Center. The times being what they are right now, though, you can't just have a stash like that doing nothing without somebody taking notice.

A coalition of 21 local unions, advocacy organizations and other groups are calling on the Ernest N. Morial New Orleans Convention Center to release $100 million out of its unrestricted cash reserves to support hospitality industry workers who are out of work due to the coronavirus crisis.

The Convention Center has recently reported somewhere between $185 million and $215 million in unrestricted reserves, which it has accumulated through the collection of locally generated hotel, food and beverage taxes. In 2018 and 2019, those collections exceeded $65 million.

Convention Center officials did not respond to requests for comment for this story, including questions about the current value of its reserves.

Ha ha I'm sure they didn't.  Hell they just spent all of last year fighting with (well, okay more like doing a Kabuki play with) the mayor over whether or not this particular pile of money ought to be paying for city infrastructure repairs. Thanks to Walt Leger's work in the legislature, they got to hang onto it after all.  Guess what Walt Leger does now.

Accompanying the report on the rapid deterioration in the Convention Center's business outlook, on Tuesday board president Melvin Rodrigue said he would be stepping down from the position he has held since 2008.

Rodrigue, president and chief executive of Galatoire's, was recently elected as chair of the National Restaurant Association, a powerful lobbying group that has been pushing for relief measures for its hard-hit members. He has been in talks with the governor since late last year about a successor, he said Tuesday.

He will be replaced by Walt Leger III, a former state representative and the current general counsel for New Orleans & Co.

So is Walt going to turn around now and just give away all the money he earned his current job working so hard to secure?  Doesn't seem like it. But if service workers are still out of work, and rent keeps coming due month after month, and if no one in D.C. has fired off the money gun, then relief has to come from somewhere.  And seeing as how that $100 - $200 million was gathered off the backs of the very workers asking for it now, well, it looks like they've probably got dibs.