NAHB Opposes New CDC Eviction Moratorium; DOJ Affirms NAHB Members are Exempt

This post was updated on Aug. 27.

The Centers for Disease Control on Aug. 3 announced a new eviction moratorium targeted for U.S. counties “experiencing substantial and high levels of community transmission levels” of COVID-19. (On Aug. 26, the Supreme Court struck down the CDC eviction ban.)

NAHB opposes the new eviction moratorium and instead encourages states and localities to disburse the billions of dollars in federal funds still available to provide relief to renters. The new order will expire on Oct. 3, 2021.

The previous CDC eviction moratorium expired on July 31.

The CDC eviction moratorium does not apply to NAHB members who were members of the association as of October 2020, when NAHB filed a lawsuit contesting the federal eviction moratorium that began last September. A federal judge in the Northern District of Ohio ruled that Congress did not provide the CDC with the authority to issue such a moratorium. The Department of Justice has affirmed the court’s ruling prevents the CDC from enforcing the Aug. 3 eviction moratorium order against NAHB members who were members at the time of the complaint.

“As President Joe Biden said in his press conference today, the courts have made it clear that the eviction moratorium ‘was not constitutional – it would not stand,’” said NAHB Chairman Chuck Fowke. “Instead, state and local governments should be putting more effort into connecting renters with federal funds designed to help them make their payments. The federal government has provided billions of dollars for this purpose.”

NAHB has actively advocated for emergency rental assistance to help renters and landlords impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and to protect the viability and stability of the rental housing market. The Treasury Department has disbursed more than $46 billion in rental assistance to state and local programs for relief to both landlords and tenants.

NAHB continues to urge members to seek access to rental assistance funding via your local government and state housing finance agencies before pursuing an eviction or as an alternative to starting eviction proceedings.

Tenants can learn more about Emergency Rental Assistance programs by visiting the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s online Rental Assistance Finder.

NAHB has also posted resources for landlords, including a sample script to contact tenants and walk them through the steps to apply for assistance and/or request permission to apply on their behalf.

The script, and other multifamily COVID resources, can be found on the Multifamily and Affordable Housing Resources for COVID-19 page on nahb.org.