LANSING, Mich. — Tenants and landlords around the country are on a roller coaster ride with the eviction moratorium ordered by the CDC. The mandate protecting tenants was put in place last month, but within days landlords pushed back filing several lawsuits against the agency. As the lawsuits are being fought Alicia Nieves found the CDC may be rolling back some protections.
After being hit with one lawsuit after another, last week the CDC responded to the lawsuits in court, seeking to uphold the eviction moratorium mandate but outside of court issuing “new guidelines” that convey a slightly different message.
“The changes created new burdens for renters to have to meet and created some holes in the protection that those renters need.” Diane Yentel is with the national low-income housing coalition, an organization concerned about the new burden renters have – to prove their financial distress, but also over this new bit of information released in the guidance.
“Landlords can file evictions and courts can essentially take every step in the eviction process up to actually removing somebody from their home.” ”That has a significant impact and ultimately will mean more low-income people leaving their homes before the moratorium even expires.”
As many tenants do not want to go through an eviction process and tend to cave to moving out before the court-ordered eviction date. The national apartment association, which attached itself to the lawsuits against the CDC, cautions the new guidelines aren’t as big of a victory as they may seem for landlords. They do not put landlords much closer to recovering the estimated $12-$17 billion outstanding in back rent.
Bob Penniger heads the NAA. “I think the guideline put out by the CDC provide a path forward, I still maintain that the guidelines are a half step to a solution.” A full step, he says, would be a solution that helps landlords and tenants. Interestingly enough, advocates on both sides agree on a better solution.
“We still need to have a stimulus act that will provide direct rental assistance.” “At least 100 billion dollars in emergency rental assistance.”
That is up to congress and it is looking less likely that any kind of stimulus package will pass before the election. more likely that a court will rule on whether to uphold the eviction moratorium or not, before then.
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