host: joining us is greg brown from the national apartment association. ank you for joining us this morning. guest: good to be here. host: who do you represent? guest: the national apartment association is a federation of apartment associations around the country. we represent property owners and managers of all shapes and sizes, from the smallest with a single unit under management up to the largest firms in the business. we represent every different segment of rental housing. all different kinds, all different shapes and sizes. host: we have talking about the eviction moratorium, the previous one put in by the biden administration. the current one put in place by the biden administration. through the cdc. what do they do for those you represent? guest: we oppose eviction moratoriums as a tool to deal with this housing crisis from covid. what we have seen over the last 15 months is what we fear most. rental debt keeps piling up, both for residents and for owners. it's important to understand a little about the industry. half of our industry are mom-and-po

host: joining us is greg brown from the national apartment association. r joining us this morning. guest: good to be here. host: who do you represent? guest: the national apartment association is a federation of apartment associations around the country. we represent property owners and managers of all shapes and sizes, from the smallest with a single unit under management up to the largest firms in the business. we represent every different segment of rental housing. all different kinds, all different shapes and sizes. host: we have talking about the eviction moratorium, the previous one put in by the biden administration. the current one put in place by the biden administration. through the cdc. what do they do for those you represent? guest: we oppose eviction moratoriums as a tool to deal with this housing crisis from covid. what we have seen over the last 15 months is what we fear most. rental debt keeps piling up, both for residents and for owners. it's important to understand a little about the industry. half of our industry are mom-and-pop's. about

then we are joined by greg brown of the national apartment association for a conversation about the cdc eviction moratorium.

and then this any vice president for government affairs for the national apartment association, on the biden administration's new eviction moratorium. and a look at federal data showing life expectancy in the u.s. with a professor of sociology at the university of texas in austin. watch washington journal live at 7:00 eastern this morning, and be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, text messages, facebook comments, and tweets. >> new york governor andrew cuomo announced his resignation, said to take effect in two weeks. he said the state attorney general's report on allegations against him had no factual basis, but he said he was stepping aside to let the state government get back to work. governor cuomo: first, i have always started by telling new yorkers the facts before my opinion. so let's start new york tough, with the truth. the attorney general did a report on complaints made against me by certain women for my conduct. the report said i sexually harassed 11 women. that was the headline people heard and saw and reacted to. the reaction was outrage, it should have b

joining me is stephanie graves from houston and bob ceo of the national apartment association. stephanie, is this situation with the eviction moratorium sustainable for you? >> well, we have been going through it for 18 months. we were hoping this would end soon. no, it is not sustainable for landlords. >> laura: what happens if this goes on another 3 months to 5 months through the end of the year? >> well, the challenges are for landlords and anyone related to apartment ownership. my fear is bills can't be paid and layoffs will happen for people. maintenance issues are not taken care of. those residents paying their rent are suffering from those who are not. it's been a struggle. my fear is the long-term situation, in that affordable housing is struggling . if we force landlords out -- >> laura: rents will go up and landlords won't rent to poor people or first time renters. it hoses the people that need the most help. thank you, squad. some elected officials are celebrating this new eviction moratorium. >> this was a crisis that was unfolding and that was unnecessary. we won't

graves, rental housing provider operating out of the houston area and the ceo of the national apartment association. is this situation with the eviction moratorium sustainable for you? >> we been going through a 18 months so we are veterans hoping this would end soon so it is not a sustainable situation. laura: what happens if this goes on another three months, four months, five months, through the end of the year? >> the challenges offer landlords or anybody related and my fear is the media is challenging and bills can't be paid, layoffs will happen, maintenance issues are not taken care of, residents that are paying their rent or suffering, it has been a struggle. my fear is a long-term situation that affordable housing is a struggle already and if we force landlords to go out of business because they can't pay their rent and mortgage and not doing anything to improve -- laura: rents go about landlords won't want to pour people, too much of a risk. the people who need the most help. some elected officials are celebrating the eviction moratorium. >> this was a crisis that was unfolding and unneces

this is a headline from the national apartment association.hey are suing the federal government to recover the industries losses under the nationwide eviction moratorium. they say in their lawsuit that has a low-margin industry, where just $.10 of each rental dollar is considered profit, the debt is unsustainable and could devastate callous small businesses all simultaneously damaging housing affordability. so an aa is proud of the adaptability and flexibility -- so naa is proud of the adaptability and flexibility. it is time to make residence hall again. where is your view on the landlords, particularly the small landlords, and where they stand in this country? guest: it has been a concern in -- since the beginning that we have big landlords that are sort of high profit organizations but there a lot of properties owned by individuals or families who are running on margins. if we think about where the money of rent goes to, landlords use some of that to pay the mortgage on the property, pay taxes, insurance, operating expenses, and those expen

days after the national apartment association through the federal government over losses of $27 billionunpaid rent since eviction ban was put in place. >> we are in a situation where the economy is doing great. unemployment is 5.3%. we have people not paying their rent. the challenges as time goes on, more more people are not paying their rent. >> karl owns 250 rental units in seattle including this building where he says one tenant refused to pay rent for 16 months while trashing his apartment, and he still could not evict. >> we have tenants gaming the system. >> same problem, different tenants. he says he hasn't received any money since december even after allowing this renter to repair other people's cars on this property in hopes he would start making payments. >> the place turned into a dump. a lot of broken down cars, trash, oil all over the place. >> renter advocates say the bigger problem is $47 billion in covid rental assistance not getting distributed to tenants and landlords. just 7% of the funds have been paid out. >> we are literally up to our eyeballs in assisting tenants

the national apartment association is basically now filing a complaint on behalf of landlords.o despicable. because these people are not wealthy. they are not warren buffett's, you're absolutely right. where is the protection they are? >> greg: but the thing is, the banks are in bed with the democrats them as you're not going to get a moratorium on those mortgages, are you? you know what drives me crazy? the word of landlord. it was invented back when we were wearing ct scan underpants. why can't -- you -- democrats are so good at coming up with words. >> i don't think that one would stick. unfortunately. but we can workshop it later. i just think the unfair thing about all of this in terms of this pandemic is making these rules that are not going to have any consequences for them themselves. >> greg: right. >> none of these politicians have to worry about their livelihood, their homes. they only consequences they have to worry about our political consequences. of course they're going to say, we will be the ones. so then the other people like the ones that want to throw you out

joining me now to discuss one of the people behind that suit, national apartment association president been tracking evictions nationwide. we have had housing inequality in this country since the birth of our country. but the impact of covid is something i haven't. the economy is bouncing back. there are lots of jobs available and real estate prices are through the roof. realistically, how -- what argument can be made to continue these freezes and kick the can down the road. we are in an economic recovery. >> it must be clear that mass evictions would only worsen the situation. first and foremost, this is a health crisis and the more toirm actually. and so this is first and foremost a health issue. and an economic standpoint, let's be clear what causes people to get evicted. the estimate wage is $20.40 per hour. but the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour. those numbers just don't add up so we need to look at what's causing the threat of evictios and it's health and wages. >> but do we have to separate the two? because the wage issue is a real one, but it has nothing to do with covid

we have the national apartment association president ceo. suing to block the new moratorium. based on what right now? you're saying only so much your landlords can do, right? >> well this is the 7th time this eviction moratorium has been extended and we're seeing a erosion of nation's rental housing stock especially mom-and-pop ratetores with single family homes. there was a survey done about it national rental home council, 23% of operators in this space, sold one or all of their units because they simply can't afford to operate in this environment. if we lose that 36% of the nation's rental housing stock, we're in desperate trouble. neil: a lot of smaller ones, we forget there are a lot of smaller players in your association. they have to pay their bills. they're not able to, right? >> 53% of the nation's housing stock are independent rental owners that own a building one to four units. that is the backbone of the nation's rental housing stock. neil: so part of the plan here was to compensate landlords or some who might be facing these cos

the national apartment association filed the lawsuit in federal claims court yesterday saying there aren rent and they owe a combined $57 billion. covid rental programs have allowed property owners to recoup some of the losses but it says apartment owners are out $27 billion. there was one man who sold a rental building in seattle because he can't make all the payments. >> our politicians talk about wanting more affordable housing. they are creating all the ordinances that create an impossible balance of power between landlords and tenants. we can't maintain a safe environment for our good tenants because of a couple bad ones. >> it was put in place the slow the spread of covid when millions of americans were laid off during government shutdowns. supreme court upheld it narrowly but indicated it wouldn't be allowed past july 31st without congress passing a law. well yesterday the cdc ignored that court directive and instituted a moratorium in places where covid infections are up. eight states across the country have their own eviction moratorium in place. washington is one. they aren't

this is a headline from the national apartment association.g the federal government to recover the industries losses under the nationwide eviction moratorium. they say in their lawsuit that has a low-margin industry, where just $.10 of each rental dollar is considered profit, the debt is unsustainable and could devastate callous small businesses all simultaneously damaging housing affordability. so an aa is proud of the adaptability and flexibility -- so naa is proud of the adaptability and flexibility. it is time to make residence hall again. where is your view on the landlords, particularly the small landlords, and where they stand in this country? guest: it has been a concern in -- since the beginning that we have big landlords that are sort of high profit organizations but there a lot of properties owned by individuals or families who are running on margins. if we think about where the money of rent goes to, landlords use some of that to pay the mortgage on the property, pay taxes, insurance, operating expenses, and those expenses have sti

could not compete financially against the established teams in the national league and the american association and ultimately it fell apart after a year. but this was an early attempt among baseball players to control their own destiny to determine how much they were paid and how much they were worth. so from the 1880s on until 1947, major league baseball was played only by white men, but that starts to change. and we'll take a look at the negro leagues over in the next case. so for black players who were not permitted to play in the major leagues, a lot of them started their own barn storming teams. we have an example of a team here in the 1880s in danbury connecticut. foster establishes the actual negro leagues, which is a professional league. there are a number of incarnations, a number of teams participated in that. but we have examples here from the indianapolis clowns, a program from one of their games, a signed baseball, a phenomenal pitcher who got his start and spent many years in the negro leagues. doesn't become a rookie until he's 42 and continues to pitch until he's 59 in the major leagues, actually. while th

>> well, i think that these same groups, the national association of realtors, the home builders, the apartmenty have been pouring resources into lawsuits for almost a year now, attempting to overturn federal, state, and local eviction moratoriums to very little effect. you know, thefbl fighting to allow landlords to have the right to evict struggling renters during a deadly and global pandemic. and despite the money that they've poured in and despite the power that these industry groups have, they have until now failed at their goal of striking down the eviction moratoriums. now, the cases that they have brought before courts are the ones that have reached the supreme court and that is why the current eviction moratorium is on such shaky legal ground. and again, the need to get that emergency rental assistance out, if these same trade organizations spent just a fraction of that same effort on educating their members about the availability of emergency rental assistance and encouraging them to take the money, to pay the rent arrears, we would be mush further ahead in solving this crisis that we