Letter to President-Elect Biden & Vice President-Elect Harris: Pressley, Gomez, Colleagues Call on President - Elect Biden to Extend Eviction Moratorium on First Day in Office

Letter

Dear President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris:

We write to strongly urge you to make the housing and homelessness crisis a day-one priority by using executive authority to further extend and strengthen the eviction moratorium for the remainder of the COVID-19 public health emergency, ensuring rental assistance funding is targeted to those who need it most, and working with Congress to expand housing assistance to provide housing stability for the millions of underserved renters who need help.
Congress recently passed a COVID-19 relief bill that extends the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) federal eviction moratorium to January 31, 2021 and provides $25 billion in rental assistance. The bill immediately protects millions of renters who faced eviction when the CDC moratorium was due to expire December 31, 2020. While rental assistance will provide much needed relief, the eviction crisis continues to loom as national COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths are at an all-time high.
In fewer than 30 days, the CDC moratorium will expire, and many renters will once again face the threat of eviction. Black and Hispanic households, in particular, are disproportionately experiencing the compounding effects of higher rates of job loss, being more likely to be essential workers, and being more likely to face potential eviction. The $25 billion Congress recently allocated toward rental assistance will help prevent an initial wave of evictions, but it is not enough to provide housing stability for all renters struggling to pay their rent. And many households will need ongoing monthly assistance while the economy recovers. The Biden/Harris administration can extend the CDC moratorium further, to ensure that there is no gap in eviction protections as states and localities distribute the $25 billion in rental assistance and as Congress works on a comprehensive relief package that includes robust housing and homelessness resources.
It is critical that we take all necessary action to protect individuals and families from evictions and homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Biden/Harris administration could do this by significantly strengthening the current CDC moratorium to ensure that the protections are automatic, self-executing and that tenants are not expected to navigate a myriad of overly burdensome eligibility requirements in order to safely remain in their homes. By incorporating these critical improvements, we can work to curtail the evictions crisis disproportionately impacting our Black and Latino communities.
We look forward to working with the Biden/Harris administration to advance legislation in Congress that meets this crisis with the scale and urgency it deserves. In the meantime, we also look forward to working with the administration to employ every available resource through executive action to extend and strengthen protections for vulnerable renters to avoid a catastrophic wave of evictions. Thank you for your consideration of our urgent request.

Sincerely,

Source