Drag Race legend Stacy Layne Matthews asks fans for help as she faces eviction
Stacy Layne Matthews. (Santiago Felipe/FilmMagic)
RuPaul’s Drag Race icon Stacy Layne Matthews opened up about facing possible eviction as the federal moratorium lifted.
The season three contestant turned to her fans for help as a moratorium on evictions lifted, sharing how “scary” it felt to be facing housing issues.
“I haven’t said much about my situation but here it goes,” she wrote on Instagram on Sunday (1 August).
“I know everyone is struggling. Trust me I have helped many people get through tough times… I thought I had done enough to stay where I am currently living by myself in a one-bedroom apartment, but obviously I haven’t. I been given a week to figure it out or go to court and explain why I’m behind.
“I’ve never been evicted. It’s a scary situation.”
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After Matthews, and countless others, spoke out about their plight, the Biden administration on Tuesday (3 August) imposed a new 60-day federal moratorium on evictions in areas seized by the Delta variant in a move to protect hundreds of thousands of at-risk renters.
It came after a rebellion was waged by Democratic lawmakers furious that the White House let the previous eviction ban expire on Saturday (31 July), plunging countless renters into uncertainty.
Stacy Layne Matthews: ‘If I didn’t need help I surely wouldn’t ask’
Stacy Layne Matthews continued: “I know many may judge me for this post and that’s OK.
“Everyone is allowed to feel however they want. Just know if I didn’t need help I surely wouldn’t ask,” she said, sharing links to her accounts on the mobile payment service Cash App and Venmo.
“Please refrain from negative comments and bad energy…. Trust me I have beat myself up about this more than you will ever know.
“I love you. Thank you to those who believe in me enough to get back to where I was. I haven’t smiled in such a long time. Much love. Miss Henny!!!!”
The Drag Race legend was in no way alone. More than 14 per cent of renters are behind on their housing payments, according to an analysis by The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
The moratorium was first put in place 10 months ago to shield renters from the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. A wrench was thrown into plans to continue it when the Supreme Court ruled it could only be extended through legislation.
Moderate lawmakers remained hesitant to protect the 10 million tenants potentially facing eviction, dooming efforts in the House of Representatives to extend it, The New York Times reported.
Progressive Democrats, meanwhile, staged a high-decibel protest to amp up the pressure for Capitol Hill to take action while Biden urged state and local government to disburse federal aid as a safeguard.
A workaround – and a sigh of relief for many – came after the Center for Disease Control and Prevention moved to extend the eviction freeze.
The new order temporarily halting evictions would be placed in counties “with heightened levels of community transmission in order to respond to recent, unexpected developments in the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rise of the Delta variant”, the agency announced in a statement.
This will protect an estimated 90 per cent of American renters until 3 October.
