U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich has refused landlords’ request to put the Biden administration’s new eviction moratorium on hold, though she made clear she thinks it’s illegal.
In the window between the end of the previous moratorium on evictions and the issuance of the current ban, 486 eviction cases were filed in Indiana from Aug. 1 through midday Aug. 4, according to data from the Indiana Supreme Court.
Only one day after the Biden administration issued a new policy protecting renters from eviction, a series of real estate and landlord groups is trying to invalidate it.
Speaking at the White House on Tuesday, President Joe Biden was uncertain whether the new moratorium could withstand lawsuits about its constitutionality.
Congress was unable to pass legislation swiftly to extend the ban, which expired at midnight Saturday, and the Democratic leaders said it was now up to President Joe Biden’s administration to act.
More than 51,000 eviction filings have been made in Indiana during the pandemic, including nearly 16,000 in the Indianapolis metropolitan area, according to Indiana Legal Services.
A House panel convened to consider emergency legislation to extend the ban, which expires Saturday, through Dec. 31. But approving an extension would be a steep climb in the narrowly-split Congress.
Housing advocates, including pro bono attorneys and law students, will provide legal advice and mediation and negotiation services during an expected surge in evictions.
A federal freeze on most evictions that was enacted last year is scheduled to expire July 31. Although no statewide data exists, Indiana housing experts estimated that roughly 13% of tenants—about 106,000 Indiana households—are at risk of eviction.
Weeks before an eviction moratorium put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention expires on July 31, much of the federal aid meant to help tenants and landlords has not reached them.
As of June 7, roughly 3.2 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
Since IndyRent launched last July, it has provided $96.1 million in emergency rental assistance to help thousands of residents stay housed in the midst of the pandemic’s economic fallout.
The White House acknowledged Wednesday that the emergency pandemic protection will have to end at some point. The trick is devising the right sort of off-ramp to make the transition without massive social upheaval.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s biweekly Household Pulse Survey shows that nearly 4.2 million people nationwide report that it is likely or somewhat likely that they will be evicted or foreclosed upon in the next two months.
The ruling does not affect state or local eviction moratoriums. Landlords and property owners have consistently challenged the CDC order, arguing the policy sets an undue financial burden on business owners.
At least 26 such lawsuits have been filed by property owners this year, claiming that the national eviction moratorium unfairly strains their finances and violates their property rights.
Advocates for low-income families and other Americans struggling to afford their housing costs praised the Trump administration for its approach, which is broader than what Congress enacted earlier in the pandemic.
