I've heard people blame rent increases on eviction moratoriums but that doesn't add up for me. The national eviction moratorium was only on federally funded properties for a very short period.

Some states passed their own laws but most did not last over a year, especially in southern states where renter protection tends to be weak.

Where would it take 16 months to evict a tenant for non-payment in the US?

San Francisco and Berkeley at least:

http://hrcsf.org/rights-relief-during-covid19/

http://ebclc.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/2020.07.02-Berke...

California. But also probably they are counting from first missed payment to actual eviction. Usually you don’t start trying to evict the day after rent was due.

Plus, "my expenses went up, so now I can raise prices" isn't supposed to be how markets work.

Cost of supplying the services is one of the biggest determinants of price. If prices fall below cost for too long then the entire market collapses.

If one provider's expenses went up, they generally can't raise prices, but if every provider's (even potential ones) expenses go up, then they can.

I’ve had it take nearly two years to evict in California. It requires a very motivated tenant but absolutely possible.

Yikes. That is a an absolute nightmare for a landlord. Where I live, I can evict a tenant if they violate their rental agreement and they have 3 days to vacate.

How on earth do you see a judge and get a judgement within 3 days? where I live you get a 3 days notice to leave if you want to avoid the judicial process, but you can stay and get your day in court in which case you'll be there significantly longer.

I don’t know. It’s brutal. You need an eviction from a judge, but it’s simple to get. You just apply with reason.

In the city of LA the eviction moratorium has been in place for three years, and will probably be extended out again.

I don't know a single person who owns property they don't live on, and you know multiple, and they've all had to evict non-paying tenants? Seems odd.

"rent has shot up around 30-40%" "Covid"

That's two reasons why people are having trouble paying rent, and it sounds like those folks you know are responsible for one of them.