A Democratic U.S. senator has introduced a bill that would allow federal workers not being paid during the government shutdown to forgo their rent or mortgage payments, without penalty.
The bill, introduced by Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and 17 Democratic colleagues, would relieve workers and contractors from their obligations to pay rent, mortgages, insurance premiums and student loan payments during shutdowns, reports Reason.
In addition, it stays eviction and foreclosure proceedings for 30 days after the shutdown ends, with a penalty of fines or even jail time.
Said Schatz: “Right now, hundreds of thousands of federal workers, federal contractor employees, and their families don’t know whether they’ll be able to pay rent and make ends meet. Our bill will protect these workers and make sure they aren’t harmed during this shutdown.”
What Schatz does not mention is that once the shutdown ends, all back pay owed will go to those same federal workers — money that can be used to catch up with rental payments.
As Reason reports, a recent study published in the Journal of Urban Economics compared the strength of tenant protections to rents. It found that stronger tenant protections reduced evictions but also reduced vacancies and were correlated with higher rents and higher rates of homelessness.