19 million Americans could lose their homes as Congress refuses to act before Dec. 31 deadline

As Congress remains on Thanksgiving vacation, millions of Americans are in danger of losing their homes.

"Millions of Americans are in danger of losing their homes when federal and local limits on evictions expire at the end of the year, a growing body of research shows. A report issued this month from the National Low Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC) and the University of Arizona estimates that 6.7 million households could be evicted in the coming months. That amounts to 19 million people potentially losing their homes, rivaling the dislocation that foreclosures caused after the subprime housing bust," CBS News reported Saturday.

"Apart from being a humanitarian disaster, the crisis threatens to exacerbate the coronavirus pandemic, according to a forthcoming study in the Journal of Urban Health," CBS reported. "The number of Americans struggling to pay rent has steadily risen since this summer, according to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. In the latest survey, from early November, 11.6 million people indicated they wouldn't be able to pay the rent or mortgage next month."

"Meanwhile, some renters who are still paying rent are relying on "unsustainable" income to make ends meet," CBS reported. "Among those who report trouble making rent, "More than half are borrowing from family and friends to meet their spending needs, one-third are using credit cards, and one-third are spending down savings," the NLIHC report found."

Read the full report.