Eviction moratoriums have been instrumental in keeping people housed through the past year and a half of a deadly global pandemic and economic crisis. Unfortunately, the crisis is not over.

Rental assistance programs are moving extremely slowly. As of the beginning of August, the State had only spent 21% of available rental assistance funding, yet eviction protections are set to expire in just three weeks. We cannot allow three quarters of renters to be evicted before they get the chance to save their housing. The Delta variant is raging. As many as 200,000 Washingtonians just lost their unemployment benefits.

The COVID-19 pandemic has had sharply divergent impacts on Washington residents by income and race, both in terms of financial impacts and COVID itself. Black and brown communities, and especially Black women with children, LGBTQ+ and Trans women of color, will also be the most impacted by evictions. Letting evictions begin now will only intensify the harm to the most vulnerable residents and their families and communities. It will also make our state’s homelessness crisis worse for years to come.

Please take a minute to send an email to your state lawmakers, urging them to enact a statewide eviction moratorium through the end of this year.