CDC Extends Eviction Moratorium After All
However, the new moratorium is narrower than the original
The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) abruptly changed course late Tuesday by issuing a fresh moratorium against housing evictions.
However, the new moratorium is more narrowly tailored than the original moratorium which expired last weekend.
Still, it represents a victory for progressive Democrats who had been pushing for some sort of extended eviction moratorium since the House failed to pass a last-minute legislative moratorium on Friday.
In particular, the new moratorium is a win for Rep Cori Bush (D-Mo), who formerly has been homeless in her own life and had been sleeping outside, out in front of the Capitol Building in an attempt to draw attention to the issue.
Although she had previously announced that her extension of the moratorium on evictions to July 31, CDC Director Dr Rochelle Walensky said that she changed her mind because of rapidly rising numbers of COVID-19 cases across the United States.
“Trends have dramatically worsened since June 2021 and transmission is rapidly accelerating in the United States,” Walensky wrote.
However, where the original moratorium had been a blanket prohibition against evictions, this new one is aimed only at those “counties experiencing substantial or high levels of COVID-19 transmission.”
Cases of the disease — which has already claimed more than 600,000 American lives — are expected to climb for the next four weeks, according to Dr Walensky's new moratorium.
The text of the new moratorium also echoes the arguments that proponents of an extension have been making since late last week, which is that although the American Rescue Plan approved earlier this year makes billions of dollars in emergency rental assistance available, those funds have not yet begun to be made available to vulnerable renters and affected landlords in many parts of the country.
And while the new moratorium is tailored to those counties with high numbers of COVID-19 cases, that involves much of the nation at present.
Democrats saluted Bush for her tenacity in keeping national attention on the issue when most of her House colleagues had already left Washington DC for a recess.
Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif), chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, tweeted: “My colleagues & I just accomplished something life changing for families & children who were facing eviction. The CDC’s extension of the moratorium is a temporary solution, but we’ll keep working so everyone has a roof over their head. Emergency rental $$ must get out ASAP!”
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) used Twitter to offer Bush some personal thanks.
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