Biden extends the nationwide eviction ban for the LAST TIME: Americans who couldn't afford rent during the pandemic country brace to have to start paying again in 30 days
- CDC head Dr. Rochelle Walensky announced the final extension on Thursday
- She said: 'This is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium'
- The White House has insisted the ban was only supposed to be temporary
- Progressive Democrats have urged Biden to extend the ban even further
- As many as six million Americans are believed to be behind on rent payments
- Landlords have opposed the moratorium and instead said the focus should be on rental assistance
- Biden administration is ramping up efforts in a bid to prevent evictions based on giving out aid from the $1.9 trillion relief package
The Biden administration has extended the nationwide ban on evictions for a month to help tenants who are unable to make rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic, but it said this is expected to be the last time it does so
The Biden administration has extended the nationwide ban on evictions for a month to help tenants who are unable to make rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic, but it said this is expected to be the last time it does so.
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extended the evictions moratorium from June 30 until July 31.
The CDC said Thursday that 'this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium'.
The White House had acknowledged Wednesday that the emergency pandemic protection, which had been extended before, would have to end at some point.
The trick is devising the right sort of off-ramp to make the transition without massive social upheaval.
White House press secretary Jen Psaki said the separate bans on evictions for renters and mortgage holders were 'always intended to be temporary.'
As many as six million renters are believed to be behind on their rent payments and property owners and landlords have called for the eviction moratorium to be lifted so they can easier collect money from tenants.
The White House is now considering ways to use the $1.9 trillion relief package, and billions in rental aid, to help prevent evictions.
This week, dozens of members of Congress wrote to President Joe Biden and Walensky calling for the moratorium to be not only extended but also strengthened in some ways.
The letter, spearheaded by Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Jimmy Gomez of California and Cori Bush of Missouri, called for an unspecified extension in order to allow the nearly $47 billion in emergency rental assistance included in the American Rescue Plan to get into the hands of tenants.
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Ending the assistance too abruptly, they said, would disproportionately hurt some of the same minority communities that were hit so hard by the virus itself.
They also echoed many housing advocates by calling for the moratorium´s protections to be made automatic, requiring no special steps from the tenant in order to gain its protections.
'The impact of the federal moratorium cannot be understated, and the need to strengthen and extend it is an urgent matter of health, racial, and economic justice,' the letter said.
As many as six million renters are believed to be behind on their rent payments and property owners and landlords have called for the eviction moratorium to be lifted so they can easier collect money from tenants. Protesters call for the end of rent in Brooklyn last July
Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, extended the evictions moratorium from June 30 until July 31. The CDC said Thursday that 'this is intended to be the final extension of the moratorium'
Jobless claims declined just 7,000 to 411,000 for the week ending June 19
Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, called an extension of the eviction ban 'the right thing to do - morally, fiscally, politically, and as a continued public health measure.'
But landlords, who have opposed the moratorium and challenged it in court, are against any extension.
They have argued the focus should be on speeding up the distribution of rental assistance.
Saoirse Gowan, a policy expert most recently at the Democracy Collaborative think tank, told the Washington Post: 'We’re not in a good enough place for people to avoid very, very serious hardship.
'There’s still a bunch of tenants who still have debts and local governments’ rental assistance programs have been very slow.'
The number of Americans applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week, a sign that layoffs declined and the job market is slowly improving.
The Labor Department said Thursday that jobless claims declined just 7,000 from the previous week to 411,000 for the week ending June 19, with 3.4 million Americans collecting continuing benefits.
The number of weekly applications for unemployment aid has fallen steadily this year from about 900,000 in January, but remains well above the pre-pandemic average of around 200,000.
There are a record 9.8 million job openings across the country, but desperate employers are struggling to to attract workers.
Protestors storm inside Slochowsky and Slochowsky landlord attorneys building in Downtown Brooklyn in August
