NLIHC on June 14 sent a letter calling on the Biden administration to strengthen, extend, and enforce the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) federal eviction moratorium. The letter also urges the administration to implement a whole-of-government approach to distributing emergency rental assistance (ERA) more efficiently and equitably. The eviction moratorium is set to expire on June 30, leaving over six million renter households – predominantly households of color, extremely low-income households, people with disabilities, and other marginalized populations – at heightened risk of eviction and, in worst cases, homelessness.
While vaccination rates are up and COVID-19 caseloads are down in many areas, communities with lower vaccination rates and higher COVID-19 cases tend to be the same areas in which renters are at heightened risk of eviction when the moratorium expires. Allowing the moratorium to expire before vaccination rates increase in hardest-hit communities could lead to another COVID-19 outbreak.
Despite the diligent work of ERA program administrators across the country, renters have faced barriers to accessing ERA that have slowed distribution of these vital funds. The letter encourages the administration to use every tool possible to prevent an historic wave of evictions this summer and fall, including extending the eviction moratorium, incorporating ERA outreach into the administration’s National Month of Action, establishing eviction delay, diversion, and mitigation measures through the Department of Justice, and reaffirming renter protections in the ERA program.
Read the full letter at: https://tinyurl.com/v2aks4tm