Landlords complaining about the CDC eviction moratorium are full of shit.

Yes. It’s an unfunded mandate—GOP bugaboo #1. But here’s the thing: renters facing eviction are the least able to absorb a financial setback. They should be protected b/c they have no recourse.

/1

Landlords, by definition, have at least one financial resource: their property.

If a landlord can’t absorb 6 mo of no rent, they have no business being landlords.

2/

Any landlord who can’t bridge a 6 month gap is over-extended and has made bad financial decisions. As a landlord, you should be prepared for a six month vacancy on your property. Because that happens.

3/

Also, being a landlord is completely unlike being, say, a small-business retailer. Small business retailers have fixed costs like *rent*, inventory, advertising, merchandising. It’s *hard* to make a profit by selling enough to offset costs. Landlords don’t have that problem

4/

Residential landlords are in the business of reselling the cost of their mortgage—which is usually fixed—to renters. If renters could afford a mortgage, they would buy. And maybe become landlords.

/5

Unlike other small businesses, residential landlords generally have fixed demand b/c everyone needs a place to live. People can choose whether or not to buy from a retailer, but few can choose not to rent their house or apartment.

/6

Residential landlords are less like small businesses and more like moneylenders. They aren’t forced to match their price to elastic demand. They are able to coerce their price b/c their “customers” have little choice but to pay or be homeless.

7/