Unpacking the Current Eviction Moratoriums of 2020-2021

Clip from the Build-to-Rent Podcast where our hosts discuss the recent eviction moratoriums of 2020-2021... (watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/PI02WfpIlOw)

Steve Olson

I think it's important that we unpack for a moment, the eviction moratoriums because this has been confusing because the moratoriums have been issued by so many different government bodies, have they not? Yeah, so they have, but basically, at the beginning here, in, you had an eviction moratorium. And it was all kind of done in sneaky, sneaky ways. The first one was Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

They said, If you hold a loan, a federal loan through Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, you can't be foreclosed on, and you can't evict. It was just a total freeze. So a tenant could stop paying. You're like, I gotta have my rent, but you can't do it. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac implemented that. Then you had it implemented by a bunch of different states. You even had some counties and cities do it. This one that we're talking about has been by far the most controversial. And so you've seen this kind of drop off along the way certain states have said, Yeah, we're not.

We're not doing that anymore. Well, the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control said, You can't evict anybody in areas of high COVID-19 transmission. And everybody got mad and argued about what does that really mean? An area of high COVID 19 transmission. So you can't do this. And then everybody, the National Apartment Association, all these people freaked out saying you're attacking property rights, who are you... You're the CDC, what do you have to do with property rights?

I read in an article,

"The majority of opinion says that the CDC for its order relied on "a decades-old statute that authorizes it to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination." - NPR

So they're saying, we have authority because of some things that have been done in the past about fumigation and public health and pest extermination.

But the majority said,

"It strains credulity to believe that this statute grants the CDC the sweeping authority that it asserts," ... "If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue, Congress must specifically authorize it." - NPR

So what that ultimately means is that now Can a landlord evict somebody in a higher area of COVID trend? COVID-19 transmission, does it?

Sherida Zenger

Yes. There's also an article showing state-level evictions and foreclosure moratoriums. Right now there are two eviction foreclosure states, five eviction foreclosures only, and then the rest of the states have expired eviction moratoriums

Then they're also offering relief, which I think was huge. They said they set $50 million aside to help for the next year to year and a half for back rents and rents going forward to help the renter. Which I think then helps the mom-and-pop type of owner.