U.S. Supreme Court Strikes Down Biden Eviction Moratorium

A divided U.S. Supreme Court has blocked the Biden administration’s order extending the federal eviction moratorium to many tenants impacted by COVID-19. 

The ruling struck down the new eviction moratorium issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in July. 

The Court ruled the CDC has exceeded its authority in issuing the nationwide moratorium on evictions. In essence, the Court said, the CDC had no power to issue the moratorium in the first place.

“If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it,” states the unsigned opinion.

In the moratorium, CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky signed an order determining the eviction of tenants for failure to make rent or housing payments could be detrimental to public health control measures to slow the spread of COVID-19. 

Tenants can access nearly $47 billion in federal money earmarked to help make payments. 

Only $3 billion of those funds had been distributed by the end of June. An additional $1 billion was supposed to go out in July, according to an article in USA Today, quoting the National Council of State Housing Agencies.

The federal government has issued at least three stimulus checks to most Americans, giving them at least some chance to pay partial rent. 

More than 3.5 million people nationwide have said they face eviction by Oct.1, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.

In July, Justice Brett Kavanaugh said that he believed Congress would have to pass new and clearer legislation to extend the moratorium past July. And despite a last-minute effort in Congress to do that, lawmakers didn’t have the votes. 

Lawyers for apartment owners have been attempting to get courts to overturn the moratoriums. 

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld the city of Los Angeles’ COVID-19 eviction moratorium, rejecting an effort by Southern California’s largest landlord organization to reverse the restriction.

The lawsuit would not have directly impacted Pasadena’s eviction moratorium, but could have sparked a similar lawsuit aimed at the local moratorium.

The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles sued the city of Los Angeles on June 11, 2020, challenging the eviction ban, prohibitions on late fees and interest on unpaid rent, and moratorium on annual rent increases.

U.S. District Judge Dean D. Pregerson in November issued an order keeping in place the citywide ordinances designed to protect tenants during the public health crisis. AAGLA, which consists of 55,000 rental property owners and managers, appealed the decision in December.

Currently, Pasadena commercial and residential tenants impacted by the virus are protected by a local moratorium, which bans evictions during a public health emergency.

However, the local moratorium is not rent forgiveness. In Pasadena, tenants will be required to pay back rent within six months after the emergency ends.