Coronavirus eviction ban extended through June 30, CDC announces
CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed an extension to the eviction moratorium which was set to expire in two days.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has extended the ban on evictions through June 30.
Read More: Ghana 1st nation to receive coronavirus vaccines from COVAX
Only two days before the March 31 expiration date, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed an extension to the eviction moratorium, the CDC announced on March 29. That order prevents the eviction of tenants who are unable to make rental payments as the coronavirus pandemic continues.
“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,” the statement reads.
According to NPR, more than 8 million American households are behind on their rent.
“The extended moratorium and its enforcement are essential to help millions of families remain in their homes,” Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said to the news outlet. She claimed the states and local communities need the time to distribute billions of dollars in emergency rental assistance to tenants in order to catch up.
While the extension is good news for some, there are critics of the move. Yental says that the CDC guidelines allow some landlords loopholes to put their tenants on the streets.
“It’s disappointing that the administration didn’t act on the clear evidence and need to also strengthen the order to address the flaws that undermine its public health purpose,” Yentel said to NPR. “That will result in some continued harmful evictions during the pandemic.”
Shamus Roller, the executive director of the National Housing Law Project, added “The CDC did the bare minimum.”
Since the COVID eviction ban, many landlords have sold their properties. According to CNBC, a third of landlords said they will be forced to tighten standards when evaluating applications for future potential residents, and 11% said they have already been forced to sell at least one of their properties.
Marilyn Blackburn, a landlord in Washington state for two decades is one who hopes to unload her properties.
“It’s been six months with these tenants and we’ve lost, I think I’m out about $12,000 so far just in the rents,” Blackburn told the outlet. “And you know they don’t allow us to collect late fees either, so there’s a couple of thousand [dollars] in late fees as well. And again, you still have to keep paying the mortgage every month.”
Some landlords have taken the legal route.
As theGrio reported, U.S. District Judge John Barker ruled that the national moratorium on evictions is unconstitutional after landlords in Texas filed a lawsuit against the CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services, weeks after the Trump administration issued the eviction moratorium order in September of 2020.
Read More: For many motel dwellers, eviction ban provides no relief
“The federal government cannot say that it has ever before invoked its power over interstate commerce to impose a residential eviction moratorium,” Barker wrote in his ruling, according to the report.
“It did not do so during the deadly Spanish Flu pandemic. Nor did it invoke such a power during the exigencies of the Great Depression. The federal government has not claimed such a power at any point during our nation’s history until last year.”
Have you subscribed to theGrio’s new podcast “Dear Culture”? Download our newest episodes now!
TheGrio is now on Apple TV, Amazon Fire, and Roku. Download theGrio today!
More About:News
You Might Like
