CDC cannot halt evictions; Biden calls on states to act
WASHINGTON — 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 adopt policies to keep renters in their homes.
Mass evictions could potentially worsen the recent spread of the COVID19 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. The Biden administration said it is unable to take action, though it noted that statelevel efforts to stop evictions would spare a third of the country from evictions over the next month.
“Our team is redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Monday.
The Biden administration also emphasized 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.”
In California, renters are shielded from eviction through Sept. 30 under a bill passed by state lawmakers in June and signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday it’s “unfathomable” that Americans will be ousted from their homes during the COVID19 crisis, and, backed by the Congressional Black Caucus, intensified pressure on the Biden administration to immediately extend the nation’s eviction moratorium.
An estimated 3.6 million Americans are at risk of eviction during a COVID19 surge after the national eviction ban expired over the weekend.
Pelosi and the Democratic leadership has called it a “moral imperative” to reinstate the eviction ban until some $46.5 billion in already approved housing aid can be distributed to renters and landlords owed back pay.
“We all agree that the eviction crisis is an enormous challenge to the conscience of our country,” Pelosi wrote in a letter to colleagues. “It is unfathomable that we would not act to prevent people from being evicted.”
Pelosi said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen would hold a virtual briefing Tuesday with lawmakers as they push to more quickly ensure the states distribute the federal aid.
Rep. Joyce Beatty, DOhio, chair of the influential Congressional Black Caucus, said the group has been in talks with the White House.
“Thousands of Black families and children could lose the roof over their heads at a time when the deadly pandemic is surging once again,” she said in a statement.
The CDC put the ban in place as part of the COVID19 response when jobs shifted and many workers lost income. Late last week, President Biden announced he was allowing the ban to expire, rather than challenge the Supreme Court, which signaled it would not allow the moratorium to be extended unless Congress stepped in with legislation.