CDC extends eviction moratorium through October for most of U.S., including New York
The Biden administration has extended a federal eviction moratorium through October to protect renters in New York and other parts of the country hard hit by the delta variant from being kicked out of their homes as the coronavirus resurges.
The federal moratorium — which expired over the weekend after the Biden administration allowed it to lapse — is being renewed for 60 days under an emergency order issued Tuesday by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
That means the moratorium will now run through Oct. 3.
The new moratorium covers any parts of the country with “high or substantial” COVID-19 transmissibility rates, which includes all five boroughs of the city as well as several other New York counties. Overall, roughly 90% of U.S. renters will be covered by the new moratorium, according to a congressional aide briefed on internal CDC data.
The renewal comes after liberal Democrats in Congress protested the Biden administration’s refusal to renew the original pandemic-related eviction moratorium, which expired July 31.
Biden officials first argued they would not be able to renew the moratorium without congressional legislation because of a recent Supreme Court ruling on the matter.
But President Biden suggested in remarks at the White House on Tuesday that he had a change of heart after criticism from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and a number of other high-profile Democrats.
He also acknowledged that the new moratorium will likely be challenged in court.
“But at a minimum by the time it gets litigated, it will probably give some additional time while we’re getting that $45 billion out to people who are in fact behind on the rent and don’t have the money,” Biden said, referring to rental relief programs that were approved by Congress earlier this year but have been marred by slow rollouts in states, including New York.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, who was among the Democrats calling for the moratorium to be extended again, said the Biden administration could play a larger role in pushing states to speed up rental relief programs.
“I continue to urge the administration to do all they can to pressure states, including New York, to quickly get the federal emergency rental assistance funds that Congress approved in the spring out the door to the people who need it most,” the New York senator said. “For anyone to lose their home through no fault of their own is devastating.”
Though the old federal moratorium lapsed last Saturday, New Yorkers were protected from evictions in the interim thanks to a state moratorium that runs through Aug. 31.
As New York’s rental relief program got bogged down by bureaucratic delays earlier this summer, tenant advocates called on legislators in Albany to come back from summer recess to extend the state moratorium beyond Aug. 31.
However, Albany action may not be necessary in light of the CDC’s federal extension — unless legislators also want to freeze evictions in parts of the state where COVID-19 transmissibility rates are not spiking.
