Evictions and Foreclosure Sales: Biden tries to extend the ban

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Among the many executive actions Biden plans to take on Wednesday is a signal from the incoming administration that immediate action is needed to stabilize housing for the estimated 25 million renters and homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

President-elect Biden is taking historic steps on day one to advance his agenda – including signing 15 executive actions and asking agencies to take action in two more areas, said Jen Psaki, the forthcoming press secretary of the White House.

The action aims to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s federal moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent by two months. The CDC’s order first went into effect in September, and the latest stimulus law extended protection until Jan. 31.

President-elect Biden will also ask the Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to extend the exclusion moratoriums for government-backed mortgages until March 31. He will ask these agencies to apply for tolerance for federal mortgages until then too.

On Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) extended its lockout and eviction moratoriums until the end of February. But the president-elect will ask for an extension of that period. Biden will also ask companies to continue to accept forbearance applications on all loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, an estimated 14 million adults living in rental housing were rent arrears in December. That is 1 in 5 tenants. An estimated 11.8 million adults are behind on their mortgage.

These shortcomings disproportionately affect color families. While 12% of white renters said they couldn’t catch up on their rent, 24% of Latino and 28% of black renters said they had fallen behind.

While Biden’s executive action will provide some immediate protection, government officials say the ban on evictions and warrants is not enough.

That’s why the President-elect is also asking Congress to pass a Covid bill that would bring in $ 35 billion in rent, utilities and homelessness. That’s in addition to the $ 25 billion in rent cut included in the second stimulus passed in December.
The rent cut is critical because an eviction ban does not cancel the rent. According to an estimate by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, it will cost $ 76.1 billion in 12 months to help extremely and very low-income households made up of tenants affected by this pandemic. Meanwhile, small landlords are squeezed.

Struggling tenants were protected by a patchwork quilt of federal, state, and local eviction moratoriums, many of which expired over the summer. The first major stimulus package offered limited eviction protection to tenants whose landlords had state-backed mortgages and those living in federally supported housing.

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In September, the Centers for Disease Control instituted an eviction moratorium that protected all eligible tenants from eviction for non-payment of rent. The emergency order temporarily bans new and previously filed deportations in an effort to prevent further transmission of the coronavirus.
But it is up to the tenant to invoke protection. And despite the ban, evictions are still taking place.

A federal eviction moratorium will be of much-needed relief to those on the front lines of helping struggling tenants.

“If all we get is an extension of the CDC order, we’ll take it,” said Dana Karni, managing attorney at Lone Star Legal Aid’s Eviction Right to Counsel Project in Texas.

But she added that many tenants are still being evicted. In Harris County, Texas, she said the minority of tenants have used the CDC protections in a lawsuit. The CDC order does not protect against a landlord who does not renew a lease when it expires.

“In other words, it looks terribly bleak in Houston,” Karni said.

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