Housing advocates call on incoming president to extend eviction ban

Boston — Housing advocates around the country staked out courthouses and held rallies Wednesday, calling on the incoming Biden administration to extend and strengthen the current federal ban on evictions.

President Donald Trump’s directive, implemented in September by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was extended until the end of January. Given the pandemic is still ongoing, advocates argue tenants should have protections for the next several months and that the ban should be expanded beyond only tenants who cannot pay their rent.

“Today, was an opportunity to stand in solidarity with the people,” said Alan Tanner, a minister at St. Luke’s Christian AME Zion Church who spoke at a rally in Boston, one of 17 on Wednesday in 14 states.

Several dozen tenants, advocates and small landlords gathered outside a housing court in Boston, chanting “Housing is the Cure” and holding signs including “Eviction Free Zone” and “Ban Utility Shutoffs.” They marched to the nearby John F. Kennedy Federal Building to call on federal action to address evictions. About a dozen cars also circled the housing court, honking their horns.

“We need regulation and legislation that is going to prevent evictions,” he said. “We need an extension of the moratorium. We need something more strict and stern than even the eviction ban, something that is not temporary and will last through the duration of the pandemic.”

Bans on eviction were used early on in the pandemic by states and cities to keep tenants housed and avoid a spike in homelessness. But with most of those expired, the federal ban is the only remaining protection preventing the more than 23 million renters from being evicted.

Expectations are high that one of the first things Joe Biden does when taking office will be extending that CDC eviction order. Advocates also are pressing him to include tens of billions of dollars in rental assistance in the next relief bill. That would be on top of the $25 billion approved in the $900 billion coronavirus relief bill Congress passed in December.