Published by Florida Realtors | June 24, 2021
The CDC extended the federal eviction moratorium for another month, from June 30 to July 31, further frustrating landlords. However, CDC also said it’s likely that this new deadline will be the last one. FHFA also announced that its foreclosure moratorium was extended to July 31.
The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recently announced that it was extending its eviction ban by one month, to July 31, 2021. However, the CDC also said it plans to make this the last extension.
In response to the announcement, the National Association of Realtors® (NAR) said it was “disappointed by the extension of the CDC moratorium, which no longer serves the purpose it was intended for and is no longer needed on a national level.”
U.S. courts have already ruled against CDC’s power to halt evictions, after decisions that favored challenges from the Georgia and Alabama Associations of Realtors. However, the rulings did not end the eviction ban because the court halted enforcement pending an appeal by the Department of Justice. The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering the issue.
In addition to the tenant eviction ban, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced an extension of the ban that protects homeowners from foreclosures. However, FHFA’s ban only applies to homeowners with a Fannie Mae- or Freddie Mac-backed single-family mortgage—slightly over half of all U.S. homes with a mortgage. The foreclosure moratorium was also extended from June 30 to July 31.
The eviction ban extension frustrates landlords and apartment owners, many of whom have their own mortgages to pay on their rental properties. In a few cases, renters may not have paid for their units since the ban’s start in September 2020.
The eviction moratorium prevents housing providers from evicting tenants who can’t pay all or some of their rent, providing a number of conditions are in place. They must have suffered a loss of income and have attempted to obtain rental assistance. The tenant’s income cannot be more than $99,000 per year ($198,000 for joint filers) in 2020 or they don’t expect to make that much in 2021.
They must also undertake “best efforts” to make timely partial payments, and eviction would likely render them homeless or force them into shared living.
After the CDC and FHFA announcements, the White House announced a new effort to help tenants after the bans end – a set of buffer policies to ease the transition if a large number of people are evicted at the same time.
In general, the fact sheet, called “Initiatives to Promote Housing Stability by Supporting Vulnerable Tenants and Preventing Foreclosures,” outlines plans to coordinate actions by federal agencies, working with state, local and national governments. The overall goal is to help tenants and housing providers access rental assistance funds and programs, develop anti-eviction diversion practices and relieve some of the burden on the court systems.
