The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on August 26, 2021 that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) did not have authority to impose a nationwide ban on evictions, thus ending the eviction moratorium that was slated to expire on Oct. 3, 2021 after several extensions. For many landlords who have not received rent over the past year and a half, this will come as a huge relief. For renters who have faced COVID-19 financial hardships and have been unable to pay rent, it’s another story altogether.
Timeline
The moratorium began in March of 2020 when the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was passed by Congress to enact a 120-day eviction moratorium that applied to residential properties with a federally backed mortgage. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (via the CDC) later issued a more broad moratorium which applied to all rental properties, regardless of whether they were receiving federal assistance. From there, a 30-day extension of the CDC’s order was granted by Congress, but what followed was 3 more extensions leading to a final expiration date of July 31, 2021.
Prior to the Supreme Court’s recent ruling, Plaintiffs filed an action in the US District Court for the District of Columbia stating that the CDC was not within its rights to order an eviction moratorium. The Plaintiffs argued that while the Public Health Service Act allows the CDC the power to create and enforce regulations deemed necessary to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, it did not authorize them to order a nationwide eviction moratorium. The District Court ruled in favor of the Plaintiffs, but later realized the severity of the decision and stayed (suspended) its own order pending appeal. The Plaintiffs applied to vacate the stay (lift the suspension) to the District Court, but the Court of Appeals denied the application in early June, which kept the moratorium in place. Shortly thereafter, the Plaintiffs applied to the Supreme Court to vacate the stay.
On June 29, 2021, the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote to uphold the stay as ruled by the District Court. While Justice Kavanaugh was one of the dissenting judges, he did agree with the District Court that “the CDC exceeded its existing statutory authority by issuing a nationwide eviction moratorium.” Despite this statement, he and the majority of the Justices ruled to leave the stay in place with impending expiration just weeks away. He went on to add, “In my view, clear and specific congressional authorization (via new legislation) would be necessary for the CDC to extend the moratorium past July 31.” (source)
Much to everyone’s surprise, the CDC issued a new, albeit, slightly more limited ban on evictions. This time, it was set to end on October 3, 2021 and was only intended to apply to those “U.S. counties experiencing substantial and high levels of community transition levels of SARS-Cov-2.” (source) The CDC claimed this additional time would allow financial relief to make its way to renters and provide the opportunity for increasing the vaccination rate.
Outcome
Only 23 days after the newest moratorium order, the Supreme Court ruled in a 6-3 decision to end the eviction ban unlawfully imposed by the CDC. This decision was highly anticipated following the Supreme Court ruling on June 29, 2021. As a whole, the court agreed, “It would be one thing if Congress had specifically authorized the action that the CDC has taken. But that has not happened. Instead, the CDC has imposed a nationwide moratorium on evictions in reliance on a decades-old statue that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination. It strains credulity to believe that this statue grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts.” The opinion went on to say, “The moratorium has put the applicants, and millions of landlords across the country, at risk of irreparable harm by depriving them of rent payments with no guarantee of eventual recovery. Despite the CDC’s determination that landlords should bear a significant financial cost of the pandemic, many landlords have modest means. And preventing them from evicting tenants who breach their leases intrudes on one of the most fundamental elements of property ownership – the right to exclude.” (source)
Aftermath
As of July 2021, a Census Bureau survey showed that there are over 15 million people in the United States who are living in a household that is behind on rent. California accounts for about 1.8 million of those individuals. (source) This is an economic crisis that will have lasting effects far beyond those of monetary reasons. Aside from the obvious and devastating consequences such as eviction, debt collection, and legal action to name a few, many will face severe health issues now and into the future. Children and adults subject to these circumstances will likely face physical and mental health declines as well as emotional stress. It’s disconcerting, to say the least, and hard to imagine how those in need will fully recover.
While there is financial assistance available to those in need, the process is not without complications. Lengthy applications and burdensome documentation requests, limited rental assistance support, long timelines to receive payments, lack of knowledge and/or resources for getting help are just a few of the issues some may run into. All this on top of trying to continue work, raising a family, and keeping food on the table. “Ensuring rental assistance reaches as many renters as possible as quickly and efficiently as possible isn’t just about averting near term disaster – it is about ensuring everyone has the foundation to fully participate in the economic recovery from COVID-19 and prevent a wave of evictions from cascading into long-term health and financial crises for millions of households.” (source)
