US Orders Eviction Moratorium for Most Through Year’s End

The order “will provide relief from the growing threat of eviction for millions of anxious families,” said Diane Yentel, the coalition’s president, but she called it “a half-measure that extends a financial cliff for renters to fall off of when the moratorium expires and back rent is owed.”

The National Multifamily Housing Council, which represents landlords, denounced the moratorium. It said the move addressed the financial needs of neither renters nor landlords and would be particularly harmful to small landlords.

“Not only does an eviction moratorium not address renters’ real financial needs, a protracted eviction moratorium does nothing to address the financial pressures and obligations of rental property owners,” said Douglas M. Bibby, the association’s president.

House Democrats have proposed providing up to $100 billion in assistance to enable renters to pay landlords. The National Multifamily Housing Council has said it supports that proposal.

Until now, the C.D.C.’s public health emergency powers have tended to involve quarantines to prevent the spread of diseases.

The agency cited Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act as authorizing the moratorium. The order said any delay in the action “would be impracticable and contrary to the public health” given how easily the virus is spread and how many people have been infected.

In early August, Mr. Trump signed a series of executive actions on economic aspects of the pandemic, one of which told the C.D.C. to consider “measures temporarily halting residential evictions.”

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/01/business/eviction-moratorium-order.html