Around a third of US tenants didn't pay their April rent

• As of April 5, just 69% of people had paid their rent for the month of April, according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council.
• By the same time last month, 82% of renters had paid their rent for the month.
• While cities and states have put a pause on eviction, there have been growing calls for leaders to freeze rents amid the ongoing pandemic.
• Even as cities and states across the country announce halts on evictions, people who can't pay their rent are also accruing late fees with no idea where they'll get the money to eventually pay off their debts.
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Just around 70% of tenants paid their rent for the month of April - meaning about a third of renters did not pay rent to their landlord this month, according to data from the National Multifamily Housing Council and a group of companies that collect data about real estate.

According to the NMHC, as of April 5, just 69% of people had paid their rent for the month of April. By March 5, 2020, 81% of renters had paid their rent for the month. In April 2019, 82% of renters had paid their rent for the month.

"The COVID-19 outbreak has resulted in significant health and financial challenges for apartment residents and multifamily owners, operators and employees in communities across the country," Doug Bibby, president of NMHC, said in a press release. "However, it is important to note that a large number of residents met their obligations despite unparalleled circumstances, and we will see that figure increase over the coming weeks."

The NMHC rent tracker includes data from 13.4 million units and is updated weekly, the organization said. The data is updated weekly.

Cities like New York, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles, and some states around the country have put a moratorium on evictions amid the global pandemic, but haven't gone as far as pausing rent. More than 10 million people filed for unemployment benefits in the last two weeks of March.

On March 18, the Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it was temporarily suspending evictions and foreclosures for people living on its properties nationwide.

Calls for a nationwide rent strike have increased as proponents say that even amid halt on evictions, people who can't pay their rent are also accruing late fees with no idea where they'll get the money to eventually pay off their debts.

"While shelter-in-place is in effect, we shouldn't have to choose between rent payments, and affording food and medicine, because we can't," Jackson Freasier, who did not pay his April rent in Austin, Texas, told Newsweek. "We don't think anybody should be pushed out of their homes especially in a time of crisis like this."

New York City officials, including Mayor Bill de Blasio, have urged Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign a statewide stimulus package that would allow renters in New York, the state hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic in the US, to use their already-paid security deposits to cover their April rent.

The $2.2 trillion federal stimulus package passed last month did not include any relief for renters.

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