The Biden administration has extended its eviction moratorium and unveiled new measures meant to prevent foreclosures.
On Thursday, Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extended the country’s COVID-19 evictions moratorium from June 30 to July 31. The extension is intended to be the final one.
“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 CDC said in a statement.
The moratorium, first implemented under former President Donald Trump in September, allows tenants who have lost income because of the pandemic to shield themselves from being evicted by making a legally binding declaration that they tried their best to pay rent and would be living in overcrowded conditions if they were forced out.
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The notion was to prevent people from living in congregate settings such as homeless shelters, where COVID-19 can more easily spread among the population.
During a Thursday call with reporters, the White House announced reinforced initiatives to dampen the blow to those who may be facing eviction at the end of its latest moratorium extension. An administration official said that it will be an “all hands on deck challenge” to prevent a “flood of evictions” that they said could happen.
“We know that keeping families in their home and preventing unnecessary evictions is critical to public health, peace of mind, and a sense of dignity for any family,” the official said.
As part of Biden’s $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan, $21.5 billion (on top of $25 billion already allocated) was provided for emergency rental assistance that could be used by renters to cover overdue payments and pay off landlords. The White House said Thursday that it is calling on every state and local recipient of the assistance to expand their efforts to get funds to tenants and landlords in need “as quickly as is possible.”
The White House is also planning to host an online summit of local government officials, community organizations, legal service organizations, court officials, and community leaders from 50 cities in an effort to come up with community-specific actions to avoid evictions.
“We have identified the right person in each one of these cities who plays a critical role in standing up eviction diversion programs that have been studied by scholars at the Urban Institute, at Harvard, the American Bar Association, and by others to understand that this could be a critical tool to really avoid evictions,” another official said.
The official said that free legal assistance would also be provided for at-risk tenants through collaboration with the Legal Services Corporation, the American Bar Association, and other legal advocates.
The administration is also creating a commitment letter process for households that don’t have a current rental obligation (which is necessary for emergency rental assistance eligibility) in order to help them gain assistance and is encouraging greater coordination among grantees to move funds more rapidly.
Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta additionally sent a letter to state court justices and administrators across the United States encouraging them to employ eviction diversion practices to support landlords and tenants.
Gupta mentions several recommendations in the letter, including the issuance of a temporary order requiring landlords to apply for rental assistance prior to filing for eviction. She also suggested that courts might postpone any pending eviction cases for a period of time to provide litigants time to apply for rental assistance and said courts could work with community-based organizations and legal service providers “to raise awareness about the availability of rental assistance funds.”
“Eviction diversion strategies like these encourage landlords and tenants to resolve disputes without formal adjudication and increase the chance that tenants can stay in their homes,” she wrote in the letter provided to the Washington Examiner.
The White House also moved to assist homeowners. The Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Veterans Affairs, and Department of Agriculture will be extending their foreclosure moratorium until the end of July, the White House said on Thursday. The Federal Housing Finance Agency, whose Trump-appointed director was fired on Wednesday, is also extending the foreclosure moratorium for mortgages backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The departments will continue to allow homeowners who have not taken advantage of forbearance to date to enter COVID-related forbearance through the end of September.
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This is not the first time the White House has extended its evictions moratorium. The last time it did so was in March, when it extended it to June 30.
