In March 2020, theUnited States Congress passed theCARES Act, which included a moratorium on the evictions of tenants in rental properties that receive federal funding or have federal government-backed mortgages until July 2020.[1]
[...] provide for such inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, pest extermination, destruction of animals or articles found to be so infected or contaminated as to be sources of dangerous infection to human beings,and other measures, as in [theSurgeon General's] judgment may be necessary.
A challenge to the moratorium was filed in November by the Alabama Association of Realtors. In theDistrict Court for D.C., JudgeDabney L. Friedrich ruled that the Public Health Service act did not give the CDC authority to enact moratoria on evictions.[4] Friedrich cited the rule ofeiusdem generis, writing that evictions were too dissimilar from the other items listed in Section 361 to be covered under the phrase "and other measures."[5] On appeal, theSupreme Court voted 5–4, to maintain the moratorium.[6]
TheBiden administration issued a new eviction moratorium on August 3, 2021, intended to last until October 3.[b][7] It was applicable to counties with substantial or high transmission rates of COVID-19. On August 26, the Supreme Court struck down the moratorium.[c][8]
43U.S. states have implemented some form of an eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic; 27 of these states lifted their eviction moratoriums between May and September 2020.[9]
In December 2020, theNew York State Legislature passed a state moratorium on evictions.[11] In May 2021, the legislature extended the moratorium until August 31.[12]
The Supreme Court struck down a provision of the state moratorium that protected people who filed a form declaring economic hardship, rather than providing evidence in court.[13]
^Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions To Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19 (85FR55292)
^Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions in Communities With Substantial or High Transmission of COVID-19 To Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19 (86FR43244)
^Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, 594U.S. ___ (2021)
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