Good afternoon —
The federal government stepped up in a big way when it was clear how bad COVID was going to get in 2020. With the surge of a new variant, they are once again stepping in, and not everyone is happy about it. Exhibit one is the ban on evictions by the Centers for Disease Control.
Yesterday, the CDC issued new limits on evictions for non-payment of rent or mortgage through October 3, 2021. This comes just days after the CDC's initial ban on evictions lapsed, and follows a Supreme Court ruling in June which cast doubt on whether the CDC had the authority to ban evictions at all without Congressional authorization.
The Congress has not given that authorization, but the CDC went ahead with the latest eviction ban anyway, buying time for distressed homeowners even if it eventually faces legal challenges.
At President Biden's urging, the FHA and FHFA already extended their eviction bans for borrowers of foreclosed properties last Friday, and Biden has called on HUD, the Department of Agriculture and VA to do the same.
The full-court press by Biden to extend the eviction bans stands in stark contrast to what many in the housing industry have called for.
In June, 12 industry groups, including the National Association of Realtors, the National Multifamily Housing Council, the National Apartment Association, the National Association of Home Builders and the Mortgage Bankers Association, wrote a letter to the Biden administration asking it to allow the CDC limits on evictions to expire.
The groups argued that federal assistance had already helped many renters and mortgage holders become current and that landlords needed the rental payments to pay their debt service and maintain their properties.
We've heard from several organizations in the wake of the eviction ban extension, including the National Real Estate Investors Association. Charles Tassell, the COO of NREIA, specifically called out the harm to "the 50% of property owners who own one to four units that will now be at risk of massive fines & jail time should their legal due process fall on the wrong date."
We'd love to hear what you think. I can always be reached at swheeler@housingwire.com.
Until tomorrow —
Sarah Wheeler
HousingWire Editor in Chief
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