Biden to decide soon on extending virus eviction ban

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden’s administration has less than a week to decide on extending the nationwide eviction moratorium, a measure that housing advocates say has helped keep most cash-strapped tenants across the country in their homes during the pandemic. Housing advocates are confident the ban, due to expire Wednesday, will be extended for several months and possibly even strengthened. Still, they argue the existing moratorium hasn’t been a blanket protection and say thousands of families have been evicted for other reasons beyond nonpayment of rent.

“The key to restoring and strengthening our economy is defeating COVID19. To do that, we must keep people safely housed as we work towards vaccinating more people. This is what the American Rescue Plan does,” Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said in a statement. “But for now, an extension of the moratorium is clearly warranted until more people are vaccinated, more supportive housing programs come on line, and more help is deployed.”

The White House has indicated it is weighing an extension of the ban. The Department of Housing and Urban Development did not respond to a request for comment on the issue.

Eric Dunn, director of litigation for the National Housing Law Project, noted signs that a decision has been made. Recently, Dunn said, a HUD official conducted a call with housing advocates to field opinions on a new, streamlined form that tenants can use in order to gain protection from eviction.

“Why would they be doing that if they didn’t plan to continue this for a while longer?” Dunn asked. “The question is: What is the extension going to look like?”

Implemented in September by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, President Donald Trump’s directive was extended until the end of January. Biden extended it until the end of March.

The rationale for the moratorium was that having families lose their homes and move into shelters or share crowded conditions with relatives or friends during a pandemic would further spread the highly contagious coronavirus.

To be eligible for protection, renters must earn

$198,000 or less for couples filing jointly, or $99,000 for single filers; demonstrate that they’ve sought government help to pay the rent; declare that they can’t pay because of COVID-19 hardships; and affirm they are likely to become homeless if evicted.

Biden’s $1.9 trillion

COVID-19 relief package included more than $25 billion in emergency rental assistance, plus more to help tenants who were behind on their utilities, but no extension of the eviction moratorium.

And while that money works its way out to citizens, the need for relief remains dire.

John Pollock, coordinator of the National Coalition for a Civil Right to Counsel, said current surveys show that 18.4% of all tenants owe back rent. That number also revealed significant racial disparity; the percentage of Black tenants behind on their rent was 32.9%.

Pollack called the ban “the only thing holding back the flood” of evictions that would spiral through the still shaky American economy. “That kind of wave won’t just affect the renters themselves; it will devastate communities, much as the

2008 mortgage foreclosure crisis did,” he said.

There are at least six prominent lawsuits challenging the authority of the CDC ban. Three judges have sided with the ban and three have ruled against, with all cases being appealed. One judge in Memphis declared the order unenforceable in the entire Western District of Tennessee.