Evictions Are Back and COVID Cases Are Surging
In September of 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) placed a moratorium on evictions. The moratorium was implemented to prevent landlords from evicting their tenants, and was in place until July 31, 2021 after an extension.
The Alabama Association of Realtors challenged the moratorium in the Supreme Court. Justice Brett Kavanaugh was the deciding vote in a narrow 5-4 ruling. But Kavanaugh only voted to keep the moratorium in place because it was set to expire in July anyways. He also said the additional weeks would give states the time to distribute the $46.5 billion in rental assistance – this has not happened.
Hold on, we got $46.5 billion in housing aid?
That’s right, the money has already been approved to be spent for the exact purpose of helping renters and landlords. However, states have yet to allocate all of the money yet. To put it in perspective, during June 2021, over just $1.5 billion reached households, this was “more than all of the money disbursed between January and May.” And in total, only $3 billion has been delivered through June. Clearly, the Biden Administration has been lagging behind when addressing the incipient eviction crisis.
State and local governments also do not have the infrastructure necessary for sending out so much rental aid. They have struggled for months to even get their aid programs up and running, delaying the entire process.
With that said, some communities could still do a lot more to increase their aid spending. But until these communities do spend all their rental assistance, the Biden Administration should extend the moratorium. Otherwise, millions of Americans are going to undergo the psychological, emotional, and financial damage that comes with being evicted.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is urging to extend the moratorium until Oct. 18. However, Justice Kavanaugh claims that any extension beyond July 31 would require Congress to pass new legislation. President Biden decided not to challenge the Supreme Court directly on this matter. Instead, he asked Congress to pass an extension two days before the moratorium expired. After the expiration date, Congress would be going on their August recess.
Congress failed to enact any new legislation before leaving for their five-week recess. On July 30, Congresswoman Maxine Waters drafted a bill which would have required the CDC to extend the ban on evictions until Dec. 31. Unfortunately, Democrats hesitated to support the bill, leaving it dead in the water. Thus, the moratorium on evictions has now expired, leaving many Americans scrambling to make up for missed rent payments.
Property owners and landlords are unsurprisingly opposed to a moratorium extension. Landlords argue that the CDC was overreaching by preventing evictions, hurting their bottom line. According to an NPR article from June 29, 2021, property owners argued that suspending evictions “will prolong the severe financial burdens borne by landlords under the moratorium for the past nine months.”
Landlords may be discontent with an extension, but it does not justify mass evictions. What’s worse, America is facing a rise in COVID-19 cases, and evictions will only cause further spread of the virus. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey, “roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. as of July 5 said they face eviction in the next two months.” An extension will be necessary until rental aid is distributed accordingly to help both landlords and renters.
The White House maintains that Pres. Biden wanted to extend the moratorium, but he was deterred, claiming that “Doing so could lead to a ruling restricting the administration’s ability to respond to future public health crises.” Ostensibly, this is why Biden delegated to Congress instead of challenging the Supreme Court’s decision directly. But as we have seen, Congress was not able to agree upon legislation in time. Now, there is no solution in place, and time is up.
On Aug. 2, the White House desperately passed the buck to state and local governments, telling them to “step up to prevent evictions.” Given the circumstances, this response is callous and only justifies the frustrations of Democratic lawmakers. Dissatisfied with the administration’s inaction, Congresswomen Cori Bush and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have been protesting at the Capitol for days.
In her Instagram livestream on Aug. 3, Ocasio-Cortez was seen with Rep. Jimmy Gomez and other supporters. Rep. Cori Bush had initially been “holding it down” at the Capitol for three days before Ocasio-Cortez and Gomez “tagged in” for her.
During her livestream, Ocasio-Cortez asserts that “The White House needs to get its act together and extend the eviction moratorium… the Administration had no problem with what their authorities were when they decided to authorize military strikes without Congressional authorization, and informing Congress earlier this year.” Here, Ocasio-Cortez is referencing how the Biden administration bombed two facilities in eastern Syria with no Congressional authorization.
House Democrats met with Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Aug. 3 about the eviction crisis. Secretary Yellen told lawmakers that Biden has been in touch with the CDC to see if a moratorium extension is possible. The Treasury Department is also trying to spread awareness about the rental aid by sending out packets of information. Though this is better than nothing, it is not enough to mitigate the effects of the eviction crisis.
If there is no extension soon, it is not going to be a pretty situation. Renters are going to owe any and all missed payments that occurred during the moratorium. To add insult to injury, some tenants will get hit with late fees, depending on their agreement. And given the racial wealth divide in America, the evictions are going to hurt Black communities more than anyone else. The Brookings Institute released a report on Aug. 2 confirming as much.
Health experts also agree that the expiring eviction moratoriums are likely to increase COVID-19 transmission and mortality. One study says that “Evictions may accelerate COVID-19 transmission by increasing household crowding and decreasing individuals’ ability to comply with social distancing directives.” If this trend holds during the eviction crisis, the virus is only going to spread quicker.
During an Aug. 2 White House briefing, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky, spoke about the new delta variant of COVID-19. During the briefing, Walensky said that average deaths per day have gone up, and that the delta variant is “highly contagious.” Dr. Walensky said that the delta variant has more than double the infection rate compared to the original strain. Walensky stressed the importance of getting vaccinated, saying “this remains a pandemic of the unvaccinated.”
Biden’s administration still has an opportunity to take action, but they cannot afford to keep delaying.