After initially showing weakness as the month began, the National Multifamily Housing Council’s rent payment statistics show most renters are continuing to make either full or partial payments to their landlords this month.

With the $600 expanded federal unemployment assistance having run out July 31, many were concerned August would see a wave of non-payment as renters thrown out of work by the pandemic were forced to chose between different, vital bills like rent, food and internet access.

Of tenants in the properties it tracks, the NMHC found 90 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by Aug. 20. The NMHC’s survey of 11.4 million units covers professionally managed apartment units across the country, and therefore does not cover as many small-scale landlords who might self-manage a handful of units.

The Aug. 20 figure is a 2.1-percentage point, or 237,056 -household decrease from the share who paid rent through Aug. 20, 2019 and compares to 91.3 percent that had paid by July 20, 2020. However, it is an improvement over the 79.3 percent of apartment households made a full or partial rent payment by Aug. 6.

“Lawmakers in Congress and the [Trump] administration need to come back to the table and work together on comprehensive legislation that protects and supports tens of millions of American renters by extending unemployment benefits and providing desperately needed rental assistance,” NMHC President Doug Bibby said in a statement. “The industry remains encouraged by the degree residents have prioritized their housing obligations so far, but each passing day means more distress for individuals and families, and greater risk for the nation’s housing sector. If policymakers want to prevent a health and economic crisis from quickly evolving into a housing crisis, they should act quickly to extend financial assistance to renters.”