CDC halts evictions, but advocates say more relief needed to avoid rent ‘cliff’
The national eviction moratorium announced this week by the Trump administration, aimed at reducing the spread of COVID-19, is a potential lifeline to millions of tenants struggling to pay rent.
Tuesday’s order by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — on the day the sixth month of rent came due since the country shut down — was praised by housing advocates, who for months have said halting evictions was critical during the pandemic.
Dana Conway of Durham, a bus driver for Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, started to fall behind on rent when her hours were cut in June. Conway, 36, said her landlord would have begun the eviction process on Sept. 10.
“It really means a lot to me,” Conway said. “It will mean that me and my two children won’t be out on the street.”
But the order, which runs through the end of the year, leaves significant questions about its enforcement and efficacy. And both landlords and tenant advocates in North Carolina warn that without substantial government rent relief, this temporary halt will delay but not prevent mass evictions and displacement.
“Freezing the evictions is great, but unless there’s some type of financial support or rental assistance ... to bring people current, it’s like extending the cliff,” said Isaac Sturgill, who leads the housing division of Legal Aid of North Carolina in Charlotte.
“Eventually everybody’s still gonna fall off a cliff if they can’t get caught up.”
Who qualifies?
The CDC used its public health authority to halt evictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, saying keeping people out of homelessness or overcrowded housing can be used with other mitigation strategies such as social distancing and isolating sick patients.
Such a sweeping federal moratorium goes far beyond the patchwork of local and state orders, many of which have already expired. In North Carolina, a three-week moratorium ended in late June. Federal eviction protections expired in late July under the federal CARES Act, which covered residents of certain federally financed properties.
Tenants are not automatically protected by the new CDC order. They must sign and give to their landlord a legally binding declaration attesting to their financial status and inability to pay rent.
Qualified renters must have been eligible for the $1,200 stimulus checks issued under the CARES Act, or make less than $99,000 a year per person or up to $198,000 for a couple filing jointly. Renters also qualify if they didn’t have to file taxes in 2019.
Tenants must be unable to pay rent because of a significant loss of income due to the pandemic or significant medical expenses. They must affirm they’ve made an effort to seek rental assistance, unemployment benefits or other aid.
Tenants must also show that they would be forced to move into a crowded living situation if they were evicted, such as living in close quarters with a family member or in a homeless shelter.
“The onus is on the tenant to read and fully understand what they’re signing, because they are signing this affidavit under penalty of perjury,” said Juan Hernandez, an attorney with the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy.
Evictions for reasons other than nonpayment of rent may proceed under the moratorium.
Legal challenges and enforcement
Attorneys who work with evictions cases say the order is likely to be challenged legally, including over whether the CDC has the authority to issue such an order.
Jesse McCoy, an attorney at Duke University’s Civil Justice Clinic, said it was surprising the order did not come from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Enforcement of the order, which will play out in thousands of jurisdictions around the country, will be “tricky,” he said.
“If (the CDC) made a decision and implemented it from the federal level down to the state, it should work,” he said. “Now, whether or not practically that happens is yet to be determined.”
Landlords who violate the order can face criminal prosecution or up to $250,000 in fines.
Anna Stearns, chief of staff for N.C. Chief Justice Cheri Beasley, said enforcement will be handled by local judges and magistrates.
“Until a particular defendant or tenant presents that affidavit to their landlord, there isn’t anything to enforce,” Stearns said. “It’s just going to be an individual case-by-case basis.”
Stearns said that if a magistrate unlawfully grants an eviction during the moratorium, the tenant can use the normal appeals process. Criminal prosecution of landlords attempting to illegally evict tenants will be handled by local law enforcement and district attorneys.
Then there are the tenants in limbo, whose cases began working through the courts during the time between when North Carolina resumed eviction proceedings in late July and Friday, when the CDC order takes effect. That includes those who have already lost their case but have not yet had a writ of possession executed by a county sheriff’s office, the action that physically removes a tenant.
Kathryn Sabbeth, housing law professor at UNC-Chapel Hill, said the order doesn’t give clear guidance to sheriff’s departments about whether they should continue with those removals. Sabbeth interpreted the order to mean that sheriffs should not remove people from their home.
“If the sheriff is acting in concert with the landlord, they’re acting in concert with someone who’s acting in violation of federal law,” she said. More guidance is needed, she added, to make it clear whether sheriffs should execute outstanding writs of possession.
“I can understand how a sheriff might be a little bit unclear about what they should do,” Sabbeth said.
More help needed
While the moratorium was praised by those warning of mass evictions, many say it’s not enough.
Kim Graham, executive director of the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, said her organization will further study the order before offering guidance to its members. But she agreed that Tuesday’s order, without substantial, direct rental assistance to landlords, is just a temporary fix.
“No family should be homeless; housing is a basic fundamental right,” Graham said. “At the same time, apartment communities and ‘mom and pop’ (landlords) that have rentals, they don’t have the bandwidth to withstand rolling, multiple nonpayments over months and months of time. At some point, bankruptcies are going to ensue.”
Pamela Atwood, director of public policy at the North Carolina Housing Coalition, supports the moratorium but called for federal- or state-funded rental assistance paid directly to the landlord so that tenants can stay in their housing.
“We’re also concerned about the greater economy and the status of rental housing,” Atwood said. “A comprehensive solution has to address both sides of this issue.”
McCoy, of the Duke civil justice center, said that the greater issue is ensuring that housing be considered a right and not a commodity.
“Those who can afford it, can get it. Those who can’t afford, have to deal with the consequences,” McCoy said.
This story was originally published September 3, 2020 at 1:58 PM with the headline "CDC halts evictions, but advocates say more relief needed to avoid rent ‘cliff’."
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