President Joe Biden is considering a one-month extension of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) ongoing moratorium on tenant evictions, The New York Times reported on Tuesday morning.
The order, which was issued by the CDC on Sept. 4, 2020, prohibited landlords from evicting tenants who could not afford rent payments due to financial losses brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. Until the order expires, no single person making less than $99,000 and no joint-filing couples making less than $198,000 annually can be evicted.
Though the order was initially set to expire on Dec. 31, 2020, it has already been extended three times: first until Jan. 31, 2021, then until March 31, and most recently until its current expiration date, June 30.
As reported by The Times, the Biden administration would use an extension to distribute the emergency housing aid authorized by American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. This $1.9 trillion economic stimulus package set aside $21.5 billion in emergency rental assistance payments.
In issuing the moratorium, the CDC cited the potential health risk posed by mass evictions, which would lead to the crowding of newly-homeless people in public areas. Progressive activist groups have generally supported this justification. Specifically, groups such as Black Lives Matter and Cancel Rent DC have even argued that strained government agencies should be responsible for reimbursing the losses of landlords.
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Just #CancelRent @MayorBowser https://t.co/2IuRRy2t8t
— Black Lives Matter DC (@DMVBlackLives) May 23, 2021
However, several landlords have successfully challenged the CDC’s justification for the moratorium in recent months. In February, a Texas federal judge ruled in favor of a group of property managers who alleged that the order was unconstitutional. And in May, U.S. District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich sided with a group of realtors, arguing that the CDC had exceeded the authority granted to it by the Public Health Service Act of 1944.
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