CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed an order on Tuesday determining the evictions of tenants for failure to make rent or housing payments could be detrimental to public health… (Center for Disease Control)
- “Accordingly, subject to the limitations under “Applicability,” a landlord, owner of a residential property, or other person with a legal right to pursue eviction or possessory action, shall not evict any covered person from any residential property in any county or U.S. territory while the county or territory is experiencing substantial or high levels of community transmission of SARS-CoV-2.”
What constitutes a “covered person?” There are two standards that must be met…
- The individual has used their best efforts to obtain all available government assistance
- The individual earned less than $99,000 last year or expects to earn no more than $99,000 this year. This number is $198,000 for a couple.
This moratorium will last until October 3rd, 2021. However, based on previous expiration dates we might not want to put that in stone just yet. And while this won’t help everyone, Senator Chuck Schumer estimates it will cover about 90% of renters.
POTENTIAL PROBLEMS: President Joe Biden eluded to the constitutional conflicts that an order like this could face at Tuesday’s press conference…
- At the end of June, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 vote, left in place the nationwide moratorium on evictions. This however is not a comforting fact for Biden.
- Justice Kavanaugh, who was the deciding vote, wrote in a concurring opinion..“Because the CDC plans to end the moratorium in only a few weeks on July 31, and because those few weeks will allow for additional and more orderly distribution of the congressionally appropriated rental assistance fund, I vote at this time to deny the application to vacate the District Court’s stay of order.”
- What is Kavanaugh’s opinion on the extension of the moratorium? We actually don’t have to guess because he concluded his opinion with this. “In my view, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.”
The Republicans will undoubtedly challenge the Biden administration on this CDC order and by all appearances, it is pretty clear they are going to win. The question, therefore, is how long will that challenge take to work its way to the Supreme Court.