NC eviction moratorium will end but the CDC’s order still protects eligible tenants
The N.C. Council of State voted Tuesday to end the state’s eviction moratorium, but a nationwide moratorium that was extended last week until July 31 still protects eligible tenants.
Every time the order was extended in the past, the Council of State voted to approve it, according to a press release from Gov. Roy Cooper’s office.
Effective Thursday, the statewide order will be over. The vote was along party lines with all Republicans on the council — Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Treasurer Dale Folwell, Commissioner of Labor Josh Dobson, Commissioner of Agriculture Steve Troxler, Commissioner of Insurance Mike Causey and Superintendent of Public Instruction Catherine Truitt — voting to end it.
Voting to extend the moratorium were the three Democrats on the council — Attorney General Josh Stein, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and State Auditor Beth Wood.
But the Centers for Disease for Disease Control and Prevention extended its nationwide eviction moratorium last week until July 31. The CDC said it would be the last extension.
That nationwide order has jurisdiction over North Carolina, meaning eligible tenants are still protected against eviction until July 31, even though the statewide order was not extended.
“It’s disappointing to see Council of State members revoke eviction protections for people still struggling to stay in their homes,” Cooper said in a press release. “We will make sure landlords abide by the CDC evictions moratorium and that tenants can access rent and utility assistance.”
The CDC order only protects against eviction in cases of nonpayment where the tenant has lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The tenant must submit a written sworn declaration that attests they are protected under the order.
Cooper’s statewide order required landlords to provide tenants with this declaration form before filing eviction, but the CDC order does not.
The governor’s office is concerned that when this is no longer required come Thursday, some tenants may be unaware that they are still protected under the CDC order, according to the press release.
The statewide order also automatically protected against eviction if tenants were approved by the North Carolina’s rental assistance program, Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Eviction program, or HOPE, even if the accepted tenant hasn’t received the rental aid yet.
The CDC order does not require this, but the lost income requirements of the HOPE program are the same to be eligible for protection under the nationwide eviction moratorium.
In a press release on Tuesday, Folwell said the statewide order was government overreach, even though he did support the order before its first extension.
“Property owners can work with tenants on equitable solutions that are unique to each situation without a ‘one-size-fits-all’ government-mandated order,” Folwell said in a press release.
The moratorium’s purpose
The CDC order was initially issued last year to help curb the spread of COVID-19 among evicted and displaced people.
Studies show that evictions in the summer of 2020, when there was no moratorium in North Carolina, led to over 15,000 COVID-19 cases and 300 deaths in the state.
When the CDC announced its fourth extension of the moratorium last week, they said the additional month was necessary to allow for pandemic rental assistance to be allocated to landlords and tenants, something that housing advocates have called for over the last few weeks.
Landlords and property owners have said the moratorium puts an unfair financial burden on landlords. They’ve argued that evictions should be allowed to give the opportunity to find a tenant who can pay rent.
North Carolina reopened the HOPE program in May after not accepting applications for several months due to depleted funding.
As of Tuesday, over 23,000 households have applied to the HOPE program since May. The state has awarded over $60 million in its second phase of rental aid with about $20 million of that reaching landlords and tenants.
Over $500 million in federal funding was allocated to North Carolina for rental aid in the latest stimulus packages in Congress.
It takes about two weeks for applications to process, according to the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency, which operates the HOPE program.
Any tenant accepted into the HOPE program is protected from eviction during the repayment period, but without the state eviction moratorium, there is no state-instituted protection in the two weeks between acceptance and payment.
Rental assistance programs in larger counties, such as Wake and Durham, have started their own rental assistance programs.
Over 180,000 households in North Carolina are behind on rent, with an average household debt of $2,700, according to analysis of May’s U.S. Census Household Pulse Survey from National Equity Atlas, which studies social equity among states and regions.
What about the court order against the CDC moratorium?
In May, a federal court in Washington, D.C., ruled that the CDC doesn’t have the authority to issue such a broad eviction moratorium on the federal level.
“The question for the Court is a narrow one: Does the Public Health Service Act grant the CDC the legal authority to impose a nationwide eviction moratorium? It does not,” the order stated.
But the federal court that issued that ruling does not have jurisdiction over North Carolina, so the CDC order remains in effect in the state.
The U.S. Department of Justice has appealed that court’s ruling.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 12:06 PM with the headline "NC eviction moratorium will end but the CDC’s order still protects eligible tenants."