COVID, Housing, and Health Disparities Eviction during a Pandemic

The United States has a shortage of safe and affordable housing. As a result, low-income individuals and families may experience substandard living conditions, housing instability and homelessness. Socioeconomic groups more likely to face housing hardships are also those disproportionately adversely affected by COVID-19. The outbreak has exacerbated these disparities as many people have lost their jobs and struggle to make rent or utility payments. Eviction moratoria may have helped to mitigate the negative impact in the short term; however, additional legal and policy strategies may be needed to support renters during the pandemic and after. Georgia State Law professors Courtney Anderson and Lauren Sudeall will join law student Lisa Hwang in discussing the importance of secure housing to public health in the midst of a global pandemic, whether the Centers for Disease Control and Preventions’s eviction moratorium will be enough to protect vulnerable communities, how this is unfolding in Georgia’s dispossessory courts and the impact on individuals and families. 

This virtual event is co-sponsored by the Center for Access to Justice, the Center for Law, Health, and Society, and the Center for the Comparative Study of Metropolitan Growth.