Judge voids U.S. moratorium on evicting renters during pandemic

[Doomsday Dallas]

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/fed...um-2021-05-05/

A federal judge on Wednesday threw out the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's nationwide moratorium on evictions, a setback for the millions of Americans who have fallen behind on rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic.

U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich said that while there was "no doubt" Congress intended to empower the CDC to combat COVID-19 through a range of measures such as quarantines, a moratorium on residential evictions was not among them.

Friedrich cited the "plain language" of a law called the Public Health Service Act, which governs the federal response to the spread of communicable diseases, even while acknowledging that the pandemic is "a serious public health crisis that has presented unprecedented challenges for public health officials and the nation."

The U.S. Justice Department said it is appealing, and will seek an emergency order to put the judge's decision on hold.

Evictions "exacerbate the spread of COVID-19," and the moratorium "protects many renters who cannot make their monthly payments due to job loss or healthcare expenses," Brian Boynton, acting assistant attorney general for the department's civil division, said in a statement.

The White House has estimated that one in five renters were delinquent on payments by January, while the CDC has said more than 4 million adults who were behind feared imminent eviction.

Friedrich's decision benefits the many landlords struggling to pay their own bills because they are unable to collect rent from tenants.

The CDC moratorium began last September and was scheduled to lapse on June 30. Other courts have been divided over its legality, with some also finding the CDC exceeded its authority. Friedrich, an appointee of former President Donald Trump, was the first to formally block the eviction ban.

At least 43 states and Washington, D.C., have also temporarily halted residential or business evictions, though the protections are far from uniform.

Landlords and real estate groups that challenged the moratorium in court said the CDC lacked the power to impose it, and unlawfully took away their right to deal with delinquent tenants.

A separate eviction and foreclosure moratorium for federally financed housing from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is due to expire on June 30.

The CDC began the moratorium during Trump's presidency and it was extended three times, most recently in March under his successor Joe Biden. read more

It covered renters who expected to earn less than $99,000 a year, or $198,000 for joint filers, or who reported no income, or received stimulus checks. Renters also had to swear they were doing their best to make partial rent payments, and that evictions would likely leave them homeless or force them into "shared" living quarters.

The National Association of Realtors welcomed Friedrich's decision, saying programs to help tenants pay rent, taxes and utility bills are preferable to the moratorium.

"With rental assistance secured, the economy strengthening and unemployment rates falling, there is no need to continue a blanket, nationwide eviction ban," the group said.

The group has estimated that 40 million Americans were behind on rent in January, with $70 billion of missed payments by the end of 2020.

"We know eviction spreads COVID-19, we know it disrupts access to healthcare and we know it's increasing health inequity among Black and Latinx people," said Emily Benfer, a visiting law professor at Wake Forest University and expert on evictions. "The moratorium stops all of these harms."

Congress approved $25 billion of emergency rental assistance in December and another $21.5 billion in March.

Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition advocacy group, said the moratorium should stay in place at least until the assistance provided by Congress "reaches the renters who need it."

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread1286292/pg1

^ more thoughts on this subject found on ATS.

[MaxPlayer]

Glad landlords can finally have their property rights restored.

[Cleverness]

it took 8 months to figure this out. what a joke

Other courts have been divided over its legality, with some also finding the CDC exceeded its authority.

Which part of the Constitution gives the authority to the CDC to place moratoriums on evictions?

[Shooter]

Can I get into the housing market now then This housing market is a shit show for buyers.

[Long Duck Dong]

I thought my renter's were going to give me trouble because the wife was a restaurant mgr and wasn't working for months but they kept paying thank goodness. All my friends that have rentals have told me their renters have continued to pay.

But a LOT of people in big cities haven't paid their rents and despite the moratorium on evictions, all that back rent is due at some point. The gov has been handing out money like it's Christmas but something tells me the people that are taking it aren't saving some. Just another post Covid crisis that has been somewhat overlooked and we will have to deal with at some point.