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“Housing is a necessary of life.”
United States Supreme Court
Block v. Hirsch, 256 U.S. 135, 156 (1921)
(per Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.)

 Featured Articles

nationwide EVICTION MORATORIUM extended THROUGH MARCH

Among his first official acts as President of the United States, Joseph R. Biden, Jr., on January 20 signed an Executive Order extending, through March 31, 2021, the limited eviction moratorium originally announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September (see articles below). On January 29, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky officially extended its moratorium through March 31. Biden Administration officials reportedly will ask federal agencies to extend their moratoriums on foreclosures of federally guaranteed mortgages, as well.

The CDC eviction moratorium applies only to cases based on nonpayment of rent. A tenant seeking the protection of that moratorium must provide a written declaration to the landlord, or other person who has a legal right to have the tenant evicted or removed, affirming various relevant facts under penalty of perjury.  (For a summary of the necessary affirmations, you may click on Federal Moratorium Declaration, Sept. 2020.)

That moratorium, and the narrow interpretation of it by the Trump Administration and some courts (under which many eviction steps other than actual execution of an eviction may proceed), have been criticized as insufficient. For example, according to Diane Yentel, president and chief executive of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, “many tenants are being evicted in spite of the protections.” She cites a lack of enforcement of penalties for unlawful evictions.

The watchdog group Eviction Lab, at Princeton University, found that there have been more than 200,000 evictions during the pandemic, including tens of thousands with the moratorium in place. Yentel says that seniors, immigrants and other vulnerable groups are often unaware of the federal protections, and that landlords have found other ways to evict Americans despite the pandemic.

President Biden also called on Congress to extend the eviction and foreclosure moratoriums through September, by legislation. And he has proposed legislation to provide approximately $1.9 trillion in overall economic relief, including several forms of additional assistance directly related to paying housing-related costs—such as:  

• $1,400 per-person checks to working families, which together with the $600 per-person relief enacted in December 2020, would bring their total relief payments to $2,000.
• $5 billion in emergency assistance to help secure housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
• An additional $30 billion in rental and energy and water assistance for hard-hit individuals and families.
• An additional $25 billion in rental assistance to provide much-needed rental relief, especially for low- and moderate-income households who have lost jobs or are out of the labor market.
• Extended and expanded unemployment insurance benefits, many of which are set to end in mid-March 2021, by authorizing a $400 per-week unemployment insurance supplement through September 2021.
• A $25 billion emergency stabilization fund for child care providers, an additional $15 billion in funding for child care assistance, and expanded tax credits—to help families return to work. 

If and when such economic relief is enacted, however, it will take time to distribute it (as well as the rental assistance funding approved by Congress in December) to the recipients.

IN DECEMBER 2020, FEDERAL EVICTION MORATORIUM EXTENDED THROUGH JANUARY 31, 2021, AND NEW FINANCIAL RELIEF PROVIDED

$600 STIMULUS CHECKS, EXTENDED UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS, RELIEF FOR BUSINESSES, AND EMERGENCY RENTAL ASSISTANCE PROVISIONS INCLUDED IN LAW SIGNED DECEMBER 27

On December 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the $900 billion emergency COVID-19 relief bill passed by Congress six days earlier, despite his objections to certain of its provisions. The bill extends through January 2021 the limited eviction moratorium announced by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in September (see article below). The bill also provides $25 billion in emergency assistance to renters.

In addition, the new law includes numerous provisions that will provide indirect relief to tenants, homeowners, landlords and mortgage lenders. For example, it provides:

• Up to $300 per week in extended jobless benefits, at least through March 14, 2021.
• 11 more weeks of Pandemic Unemployment Assistance benefits for many part-time and gig workers.
• $600 stimulus checks per person, including minor children of adults whose incomes are within certain limits. (Basically, the full amounts will be provided to persons who earned no more than $75,000 in their 2019 tax year ($150,000 for married couples), and stimulus checks generally will not be issued to those who earned more than $99,000 that year. But people whose 2020 tax returns show that they met the financial limits for the current tax year may be eligible for refundable tax credits.)
• More than $284 billion in forgivable business loans through the Paycheck Protection Program, for initial and second PPP loans to a business. The new law includes expanded coverage for nonprofit organizations and small businesses. Landlords and mortgage lenders generally may apply for those loans.

Many specific industries hard-hit by the Covid-19 emergency also will be eligible for aid under the new law. More detailed information on the law’s provisions may be found in various online news services, such as: 

• Tara Siegel Bernard and Ron Lieber, The Stimulus Package: What’s in It for You, New York Times, Dec. 27, 2020, posted at:https://www.nytimes.com/article/stimulus-deal-update.html.
• Rachel Siegel, Jeff Stein and Mike DeBonis, Here’s what’s in the $900 billion stimulus package, Washington Post, Dec. 27, 2020, posted at:https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/12/20/stimulus-package-details/.

EHI is among the many housing organizations that have engaged in letter-writing campaigns to members of Congress and federal Executive Branch officials, since the early days of the public health emergency, urging such measures—and in fact, more effective protections and relief for tenants, homeowners, landlords and mortgage lenders. It will be necessary to enact more complete, enduring housing measures until the Covid-19 emergency is thoroughly resolved. 

CDC ANNOUNCES order halting evictions for nonpayment of rent, covering most tenants nationwide, through end of 2020

 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) announced a federal moratorium effective September 4, 2020, that bars eviction of most housing tenants, lessees, and residents throughout the United States, through the end of 2020, where the eviction is based on nonpayment of rent.

Tenants who seek the protection of that moratorium must provide a copy of a written declaration to the landlord or other person who has a legal right to have the tenant evicted or removed. Each adult listed on the lease, rental agreement, or housing contract should sign a declaration affirming various statements under penalty of perjury. (For a summary of the basic statements, you may click on Federal Moratorium Declaration, Sept. 2020.)

The CDC’s moratorium does not apply to foreclosures on home mortgages. For information on federal protections regarding foreclosures, see, e.g., U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Coronavirus: Mortgage and housing assistance. 

For further information about eviction protections for tenants and homeowners at the state and local levels during the pandemic, you may click on EVICTION PROTECTION INFO WEBSITES. Other relevant information is given in EHI’s article, CARES ACT EVICTION MORATORIUM LAPSES AMID RECENT SURGE IN COVID-19 CASES AND DEATHS.

Disparate impacts of Covid-19 on minority groups are linked to much higher proportion who must live in overcrowded and/or substandard housing

In the United States, the Covid-19 pandemic has been exceptionally disruptive for the Black, Indigenous, and Hispanic-American communities. For example, during the first four months of the pandemic:

• Black people were more than twice as likely to die from Covid-19 as White people.
• Indigenous people accounted for more than 56 percent of Covid deaths in New Mexico (home to part of the Navajo Nation), although indigenous people were only 8.8 percent of the state’s population.
• Hispanic Americans between the ages of 40 and 59 had been infected at a rate five times greater than White people in the same age group, nationwide.

Actually, the available statistics likely understate the disparate impacts of Covid substantially, because many states are inadequately reporting demographic data for Covid-related cases and deaths among minority group members. 

An important factor in Covid's disparate impacts is that a much higher proportion of minority group members have to live in overcrowded and/or substandard housing. That problem compounds other disproportionate impacts of the pandemic. 

For example, people of color are more likely to: (1) have “essential” jobs in crowded workplaces; (2) rely on crowded public transportation; and (3) suffer from pre-existing health conditions. Studies have linked many of those pre-existing conditions to substandard and overcrowded housing.

EHI law clerk Jesse Brennan has documented the disparate racial impacts of Covid-19, and the relationship of those disparate impacts to America’s housing problems. To access that memorandum, please click on RACE, COVID-19, AND HOUSING.

The disproportionate housing problems of minority group members are largely the result of economically exclusionary housing practices. Those practices (exclusionary zoning and other, overly-restrictive, housing-related practices) prevent the building or preservation of sufficient amounts of housing affordable to low- and moderate-income Americans—especially in and near high-opportunity communities. 

Also, by pushing housing prices up, those policies prevent many low- and moderate-income families with children from accessing adequate housing units. For more on the health-related effects of exclusionary housing practices, please click on CHILDREN'S DEVELOPMENT & XHPs. 

VIRGINIA enters new phase of tenant and landlord protections in JANUARY 2021

The Virginia General Assembly’s Special Session, held from mid-August to mid-November 2020 to address the impacts of COVID-19, resulted in new levels of protection for tenants and landlords. EHI urged the General Assembly to enact stronger protections for tenants and landlords during that session. (EHI is incorporated and has its office in Virginia.)

For 2021, landlords will have to give tenants 14 days’ notice before suing to evict (as opposed to the five days noticed required previously). That 14-days’ notice must state the amount owed, along with information about the RMRP and about contacting 2-1-1 Virginia for other rental assistance programs.

Also, during those 14 days, landlords will have to apply for taxpayer money to cover tenants’ back rent, through the state’s Rent and Mortgage Relief Program (RMRP)—unless the tenant tells the landlord that the tenant is applying to the RMRP. No eviction is permitted unless the RMRP denies the application because of non-cooperation by the tenant, because the tenant is ineligible for rent relief, because the RMRP has run out of money, or unless the RMRP does not approve the application within 45 days after submission. 

Landlords owning five or more rentals must follow an extra step before evicting for unpaid rent, and they must offer a payment plan without late fees. However, those landlords may obtain an eviction if the tenant refuses to enter into a payment plan or misses and agreed-on payment. The landlord only has to enter into a payment plan one time per lease period. The tenant must give the landlord a signed statement of lost income and/or increased expenses due to COVID-19.

The RMRP will be greatly aided by the federal emergency COVID-19 relief legislation signed into law on Dec. 27, 2020. It provides $25 billion in emergency rental assistance nationwide—of which Virginia is to receive and estimated $568 million. At least 90% of those funds must be used to provide financial assistance, including for rent, utility payments, and other housing expenses. Priority must be given to low-income people and people who have been unemployed for at least 90 days.The law also extends the deadline for use of federal CARES Act funds from December 30, 2020 to December 31, 2021.

For further information on the new federal relief legislation, you may click on HOUSING PROVISIONS OF DECEMBER 2020 FEDERAL RELIEF PACKAGE, posted by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition (NLIHC). In addition to the federal funding, $12.5 million in state housing relief funding was included in the revised, biennial Virginia budget enacted in November as a result of the General Assembly’s Special Session.

There was a short-term Virginia eviction moratorium resulting from the General Assembly's Special Session. That moratorium was in effect from mid-November (when Governor Ralph Northam signed the final version) to the end of 2020. The urgency of that moratorium was reduced by the issuance of the federal eviction moratorium, which took effect on September 4. The General Assembly did not curtail the Governor’s ability to order an eviction moratorium without legislative action, if conditions warrant it. Virginia’s Attorney General has concluded that the Governor has that authority, although Governor Northam never has issued such a moratorium. 

For more on EHI’s letters to the General Assembly urging enactment of stronger protections for tenants and landlords during the Special Session, please click on EHI URGES VIRGINIA GENERAL ASSEMBLY TO INCREASE EVICTION PROTECTIONS.