Page 26 - bon-dia-aruba-20210625

A26 u.s. news
Diabierna 25 Juni 2021

CDC extends eviction moratorium a month, says it's last time

released an open letter to This week, dozens of mem-
state courts around the coun- bers of Congress wrote to There are at least six promi-
try encouraging them to pur- President Joe Biden and nent lawsuits challenging the
sue a number of alternatives Walensky, calling for the authority of the CDC ban. So
that would protect both ten- moratorium to be not only far, three judges have sided
ants and landlords. extended but also strength- with the ban and three have
ened in some ways. ruled against, with all cases
Gupta’s letter states that currently going through ap-
“eviction filings are expected The letter, spearheaded by peals. One judge in Mem-
to overwhelm courts across Democratic Reps. Ayanna phis declared the CDC order
the country,” unless addi- Pressley of Massachusetts, unenforceable in the entire
tional steps are taken. Jimmy Gomez of California Western District of Tennes-
and Cori Bush of Missouri, see, and the U.S. District
The White House had ac- called for an unspecified ex- Court in Washington struck
knowledged Wednesday that tension to allow the emer- down the moratorium in
the emergency pandemic gency rental assistance in- May.
protection, which had been cluded in the American Res-
extended before, would have cue Plan to get into the hands The judge in the District
to end at some point. The of tenants. Court in Washington agreed
trick is devising the right sort to stay the case after the Jus-
of off-ramp to make the tran- Ending the assistance too tice Department filed an
sition without major social abruptly, they said, would emergency appeal. The land-
(AP) — The Biden ad- demic. She couldn’t get fed- upheaval. disproportionately hurt some lords in the case have filed
ministration on Thurs- eral rental assistance to pay of the minority communi- a request to vacate the stay
day extended the nation- upwards of $14,000 in back Gupta’s letter to state courts ties that were hit so hard by with the Supreme Court.
wide ban on evictions for rent because her landlord re- encourages them to do ev- the virus, which has killed
a month to help millions fused to take it. erything possible to prevent more than 600,000 people Others welcomed the mora-
of tenants unable to make or delay evictions. in the United States. They torium extension but said the
rent payments during the “Ah, great. I’m just asking for also echoed many housing Biden administration needs
coronavirus pandemic, a little bit more time. I just “Losing one’s home can have advocates by calling for the to think about more long-
but said this is the last need the time to move out of catastrophic economic and moratorium’s protections to term solutions, including
time it plans to do so. here in a dignified way,” said psychological effects,” she be made automatic, requiring expanding the federal gov-
Livingston, who said her big- states. “The entire legal com- no special steps from the ten- ernment’s housing voucher
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, direc- gest fear was that she would munity, including the De- ant to gain its protections. program for low-income
tor of the Centers for Disease be evicted without notice be- partment of Justice, the bar, tenants. Even before the pan-
Control and Prevention, ex- fore finding a new job. and the judiciary, has an obli- “The impact of the federal demic, there were 24 million
tended the evictions morato- gation to do what it can to en- moratorium cannot be un- people who would have ben-
rium from June 30 until July “It’s been a devastating ex- sure that each and every in- derstated, and the need to efited from the program but
31. The CDC said “this is in- perience,” she said. “I have dividual has meaningful and strengthen and extend it is couldn’t get help — many of
tended to be the final exten- never been in this situation. equal access to justice before an urgent matter of health, those people of color.
sion of the moratorium.” It’s killing me because I’m facing such consequences.” racial, and economic justice,”
afraid anytime somebody is the letter said. “For now. extending the evic-
A Biden administration offi- going to come and get me out That includes giving tenants tion moratorium will protect
cial said the last month would of here. I don’t have a place as much time as possible, and Diane Yentel, president of the millions of people behind
be used for an “all hands on to go.” making sure both tenants and the National Low Income on rent, but many of these
deck” multiagency campaign landlords are aware of any Housing Coalition, called an renters faced a similar dead-
to prevent a wave of evic- Ronald Leonard, a 68-year- emergency relief funds that extension of the eviction ban line only months ago and
tions. One of the reasons the old retired heavy equip- may be available. “the right thing to do — mor- they will face this deadline
moratorium was put in place ment operator from Daytona ally, fiscally, politically, and again next month,” Alicia
was to prevent further spread Beach, was facing eviction She references steps made by as a continued public health Mazzara, a senior research
of COVID-19 by people put from his one-bedroom apart- state courts in Texas, Michi- measure.” analyst with the Center on
out on the streets and into ment. His landlord also is gan and Pennsylvania and di- Budget and Policy Priorities,
shelters. refusing to take federal assis- rects state courts to an online But landlords, who have op- told reporters. “They need a
tance to cover $5,000 in back assessment tool designed by posed the moratorium and long-term solution, not an-
By the end of March, 6.4 mil- rent. the National Center for State challenged it in court, were other Band-Aid. Policy mak-
lion American households Courts to help jurisdictions against any extension. They ers should seize this moment
were behind on their rent, “I don’t have to worry about determine the most appro- have argued the focus should to enact a more enduring so-
according to the Depart- July no more. I feel a lot bet- priate model. be on speeding up the distri- lution.”
ment of Housing and Urban ter,” said Leonard, who still bution of rental assistance.
Development. As of June 7, fears being forced to live on
roughly 3.2 million people in the streets once the moratori-
the U.S. said they faced evic- um expires. ”It’s heartbreak-
tion in the next two months, ing. It’s not going to be good
according to the U.S. Census all. I’m not healthy anymore.
Bureau’s Household Pulse There is no way I’m going to
Survey. live on the street.”

The news brought a sense of The extension announce-
relief to tenants on the verge ment Thursday was accom-
of being evicted and whose panied by a flurry of admin-
only lifeline was the CDC istration activity. The Trea-
moratorium. sury Department issued new
guidance encouraging states
Among them was Cristina and local governments to
Livingston, a 55-year-old streamline distribution of the
mother of two from Bay nearly $47 billion in available
Harbor Islands, Florida, who emergency rental assistance
lost her job as an administra- funding. And Associate At-
tive assistant during the pan- torney General Vanita Gupta