Demonstrators support an extension of the eviction moratorium, US Capitol, Washington DC, July 31, 2021 (Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters)

UPDATE, AUG 4:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued a 60-day extension of the eviction moratorium in areas “with high or substantial levels of Coronavirus transmission”.

President Joe Biden has said he may issue an executive order for an extension, despite a Supreme Court opinion from Justice Brett Kavanaugh saying Congressional approval is required.

Constitutional scholars told him that a renewed moratorium on evictions was “not likely to pass constitutional muster” following a supreme court opinion from Brett Kavanaugh stating that an extension of the ban would require congressional approval.“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 in the rent and don’t have the money,” Biden said.

ORIGINAL ENTRY, AUG 3: The US Government’s moratorium of evictions has expired, leaving hundreds of thousands of tenants at risk.

The moratorium, implemented last fall by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ended on Saturday. A last-minute effort in Congress to extend it to December 31 failed.

The Biden Administration has come under fire, including from Congressional Democrats, for not taking timely action. The Administration responded that the CDC does not have the legal authority to order an extension. It cited a recent Supreme Court ruling, and said proceeding would jeopardize emergency action by the Executive Branch in public health crises.

On Monday, the White House called on states to accelerate the disbursement of billions of dollars in rental aid, and on local authorities to enact extensions.

The $47 billion Emergency Rental Assistance program has distributed only $3 billion so far. Officials said the support has increased recently, with $1.5 billion disbursed to 290,000 households in June.

Kyle Webster, working with an affordable housing group in Pittsburgh, was one of the advisors reporting a surge of cases from concerned tenants over aid applications.

He said of the 1,200 inquiries over the weekend, “It’s overwhelming, and, to be honest, we don’t know if we can actually call all of those people back.”

Last week the National Apartment Association, representing landlords, sued the Federal Government. It claimed owners had lost $27 billion not covered by aid programs.

“It is Shocking. It is Cruel.”

Gene Sperling, who supervises pandemic relief efforts for the Biden Administration said Monday, “There is no place to hide for any state or locality failing to accelerate their emergency rental assistance funds.”

He called for the extension of existing local moratoriums, arguing that a third of renters are already protected by state and city governments.

But legislators have criticized the Administration for not acting unilaterally. A group of them, alongside activists, have been sleeping on the steps of the Capitol.

Rep. Cori Bush of Missouri said:

People were promised something — help — and that has not happened.

It is unbelievable. It is shocking. It is unconscionable. It is cruel. We can’t be sitting on our hands when people are suffering.

Rep. Maxine Waters of California added, “I wish that the President, the C.D.C. would have gone forward and extended the moratorium. They have the power to do that. I think he should have gone in and he should have done it, and let the chips fall where they may.”

And Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, chided, “It’s too little too late. The White House did not handle this well. I think they did not think about this eviction moratorium in a serious way.”

In one case, local courts fulfilled the White House hope of action to slow evictions. A State judge in Georgia signed an emergency order on Sunday imposing a moratorium on evictions for 60 days in DeKalb County.

But in others, including in Cincinnati, Ohio, housing court judges have ignored the CDC moratorium. The evictions were paused only when the Supreme Court rejected a challenge from landlords to the moratorium in June.