The Nation’s Eviction Crisis and Credit Unions
By Robert McGarvey
The Aspen Institute throws out a startling number of how many evictions we may see when the CDC’s eviction ban expires at year-end. Says the think tank, “According to the latest analysis of weekly US Census data, as federal, state, and local protections and resources expire and in the absence of robust and swift intervention, an estimated 30–40 million people in America could be at risk of eviction in the next several months.”
30 to 40 million people! 10% of us.
Credit unions just may have a savior’s role to play in this and it’s a role that would define credit unions in starkly different terms than their banker competitors. Banks are fueling evictions, where credit unions can throw a lifeline to renters.
That’s the idea of Jake Schlachter, CEO of Madison WI based We Own It, an organization formed to shake up cooperatives. Schlachter now has his eye on credit unions and he has thrown out a huge idea: credit unions could harness their excess excess capital (many have significantly more than the amount required by regulators) to create loan funds for tenants facing eviction.