Tag Archives: residential eviction moratorium

Pelosi presses White House to reinstate COVID-19 eviction moratorium

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday put fresh pressure on the White House to reinstate a COVID-19 pandemic-related residential eviction moratorium after lawmakers failed to extend it before it lapsed over the weekend.

House Democrats made an effort to extend the moratorium implemented by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to Oct. 18 but a Republican congressman blocked their bid to pass the measure by unanimous consent on Friday. The moratorium has protected millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent from being forced from apartments and houses.

In a letter to fellow House Democrats, Pelosi on Monday urged President Joe Biden’s administration to renew the moratorium without congressional action. Pelosi told lawmakers such an extension would provide more time to speed distribution of $46.5 billion already allocated by Congress for rental relief. Only about $3 billion of that sum has been distributed.

“The money must flow, and the moratorium must be extended by the administration,” Pelosi wrote.

Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen plans to brief lawmakers on the eviction mitigation funds on Tuesday, Pelosi said.

Biden last Thursday urged Congress to extend the moratorium, noting that a Supreme Court opinion last month indicated that legislative approval would be required to do so.

Pelosi on Friday initially wanted the House to pass legislation that would extend the moratorium through the end of the year, then decided to pursue a renewal through Oct. 18 with a legislative maneuver requiring unanimous consent. In the end, Democratic leaders did not bring any legislation to a formal vote amid concerns by some lawmakers. The Senate also would have to approve any renewal passed by the House.

More than 15 million people in 6.5 million U.S. households are currently behind on rental payments, according to a study by the Aspen Institute and the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, collectively owing more than $20 billion to landlords.

Congressional Black Caucus Chair Joyce Beatty said the moratorium’s end means “thousands of Black families and children could lose the roof over their heads at a time when the deadly pandemic is surging once again, and their lives are in disorder due to the pandemic.”

Landlord groups have opposed the moratorium, which the CDC implemented to combat the spread of COVID-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic. The CDC first issued it in September 2020 after a prior moratorium approved by Congress expired. The agency most recently extended it in June for a month before it finally expired at midnight on Saturday.

The National Apartment Association, with 82,600 members that collectively manage more than 9.7 million rental units, last week sued the U.S. government seeking billions of dollars in unpaid rent due to the moratorium.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Will Dunham)

Biden administration extends residential eviction ban until end of July

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Biden administration on Thursday said it was extending the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) COVID-19 residential eviction moratorium until July 31.

Reuters first reported the expected extension on Tuesday. The national ban on residential evictions was first implemented last September and was extended in March until June 30. A CDC statement Thursday extending it to July 31 said “this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium”.

The CDC said the “the COVID-19 pandemic has presented a historic threat to the nation’s public health. Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19.”

On Tuesday, a group of 44 U.S. lawmakers had called for the extension, citing an estimate that about “6 million renter households are behind on their rent and at risk of eviction”.

The Supreme Court has yet to act on a petition by landlord groups which argued the CDC exceeded its authority when it halted evictions to help renters during the pandemic. The CDC imposed the ban to combat the spread of COVID-19 and prevent homelessness during the pandemic.

Lawyers for the landlord groups cited the Reuters story Wednesday reporting the expected extension in asking the Supreme Court to take immediate action to halt the ban.

The landlords said earlier that property owners “have been losing over $13 billion every month under the moratorium”. One group estimated that 40 million Americans were behind on rent in January, with $70 billion of missed payments by the end of 2020.

The moratorium covers renters who expected to earn less than $99,000 a year, or $198,000 for joint filers, or who reported no income, or received stimulus checks.

Renters also had to swear they were doing their best to make partial rent payments, and that evictions would likely leave them homeless or force them into “shared” living quarters.

Congress has approved $47 billion in relief for renters but much of that money has not yet been distributed.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Philippa Fletcher)