House Democrats Push To Extend Evictions Moratorium

Forty-four House Democrats on Tuesday urged President Joe Biden to extend the federal moratorium on evictions as an unprecedented homelessness crisis looms.

Rep. Ayana Pressly D-Mass., Rep. Jimmy Gomez D-Calif., and Rep. Cori Bush D-Mo., addressed Biden and CDC director Rochelle Walensky in a letter that without an extension to the moratorium on evictions, millions of people next week face the threat of becoming homeless.

“Evictions take lives and push households into deeper poverty, impacting everything from health outcomes to educational attainment,” the letter reads.

Congressional Democrats are urging Biden to extend the moratorium, a move that will benefit up to 6 million tenants. The CDC first imposed the ban on evictions in September, citing a public health law that gives the agency powers to prevent easily spread diseases from crossing state lines.

Although Congressional leaders have extended this policy three different times, landlords are still fighting the eviction moratorium in courts around the country.

Congress has allocated more than $46 billion in emergency rental assistance for state and local officials to give to tenants struggling to pay the bills. Much of that money has yet to reach the landlords who have been struggling to pay property taxes, mortgage payments, and operating costs.

The lawmakers did not give Biden a timeline for how long the eviction moratorium should be extended.

They argued that it is an urgent racial-justice issue since most of those who will be affected are from communities of color.

They claim that extending the moratorium on evictions will ensure protections are automatic, self-executing, and assure that tenants don’t have to navigate through eligibility requirements in order to stay in their homes amid a still unstable economy.