Do not evict renters, says WH

Washington, Aug. 3: The White House said Monday that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium and asked that states and local governments put in policies to keep renters in their homes.

Mass evictions could potentially worsen the recent spread of the Covid-19 delta variant as roughly 1.4 million households told the Census Bureau they could very likely be evicted from their rentals in the next two months.

Another 2.2 million say they’re somewhat likely to be evicted. The prospect of mass evictions has led to criticism that the Biden administration was slow to address the end of the moratorium, which expired over the weekend.

But the White House says it lacks the authority to extend a national moratorium. That’s largely because the Supreme Court signalled in a 5-4 vote in late June that it wouldn’t back further extensions, with Justice Brett Kavanaugh writing that Congress would have to act to extend the moratorium. The White House noted that state-level efforts to stop evictions would spare a third of the country from evictions over the next month.

The Biden administration emphasised in a statement said that $46.5 billion has been provided to keep renters in their homes, but too many states and cities have been too slow to act. It’s still investigating any additional legal options to forestall the evictions, but Gene Sperling, who oversees the Coronavirus relief plans, put the burden on states and local governments to get out federal aid and stop evictions.

The President is clear: If some states and localities can get this out efficiently and effectively there’s no reason every state and locality can’t. —

THE PROSPECT of mass evictions has led to criticism that the Biden administration was slow to address the end of the moratorium, which expired over the weekend.