President Joe Biden Unable To Extend Eviction Moratorium Expiring On July 31

The Biden administration has announced it will allow a national moratorium on evictions of rental housing tenants to expire on July 31 while insisting the U.S. Congress create and pass legislation that would enable the ban to continue.

What Happened: The moratorium was created by an executive order signed last August by President Donald Trump to protect tenants who missed monthly rent payments due to COVID-19 pandemic-related financial hardships from being forced out of their homes.

The executive order was designed to end Dec. 31, 2020, but Congress extended it through January and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) extended it three additional times.

However, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last month in a 5-4 decision that the moratorium must expire on July 31, the final date set in the third CDC extension. Justice Brett Kavanaugh stated he would block any further extensions that were made without “clear and specific congressional authorization.”

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What Happens Next: In a statement, the White House said “President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect renters at this moment of heightened vulnerability,” a reference to the surge of COVID-19 infections created by the Delta variant, but “the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.”

The administration has asked the Departments of Housing and Urban Development and Veterans Affairs to extend their respective eviction moratoriums through the end of September, which will cover tenants in federally insured, single-family properties. Wider protection will now require congressional legislation, but no bill has been created in either the House of Representatives or Senate to address the issue.

The U.S. Census Bureau estimated 8.2 million households were behind on their rent during July.

Photo: Gage Skidmore / Flickr Creative Commons.