RealPage has issued a helpful blog posting to put into context the narrative of a looming “evictions tsunami.”  The blog starts by pointing out that media reports “now suggest more than 11 million renters are at risk of eviction when the federal moratorium expires at the end of July.  How can that be? Well, it probably isn’t – and that’s good news for everyone.”

The blog notes that there remains substantial economic pain being felt by millions of U.S. consumers, many of whom are tenants.  “But the [forcasted eviction] totals will almost certainly come in as a fraction of that widely cited 11 million figure.”

The doomsday predictions are based almost entirely on a Census survey that the Census itself couches as “experimental.” There’s ample evidence suggesting that the vast majority of renters are paying the rent, and that most of today’s renter distress is structural – tracing to the severe shortage of affordable housing, a problem that long predates the pandemic.

In an effort to get the facts straight, the RealPage blog, Ten Facts to Challenge the Evictions Doomsday Narrative, points out that far less dire than many would have us believe.