Biden is expected to announce a new eviction moratorium for places hard hit by the Delta variant
Category: News & Politics
Via: just-jim-nc-ttth • 3 years ago • 20 commentsBy: Glenn Thrush, Michael D. Shear and Alan Rappeport (MSN)
States and municipalities need to get the money out there that they already have.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
President Biden is expected to announce a new federal eviction moratorium to replace the one that expired on Saturday — targeting counties with elevated rates of coronavirus infections, according to congressional aides and other officials familiar with the discussions.
© Stefani Reynolds for The New York Times Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen at the Capitol on Tuesday.
White House aides and officials with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were working out details of a potential deal on Tuesday that could include a new freeze that would remain in place for up to 60 days, but officials involved in the process warned that the situation was in flux and no final decisions had been made.
The new ban would cover about 90 percent of renters in the country, according to a Democratic leadership aide briefed on the proposal.
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Creating a new moratorium to deal with the recent spike in coronavirus rates is an attempt to deal with concerns that extending the previous moratorium without congressional approval would run afoul of the Supreme Court, the officials said.
Tenants groups have argued that extending the original moratorium, which the C.D.C. imposed in November, is needed to buy time to fully implement an emergency rental assistance program that has been plagued by delays at the state and local level.
Consideration of a new freeze comes as Speaker Nancy Pelosi and a group of progressive Democrats, led by Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, have pressured the White House to act quickly — after Mr. Biden punted the issue to Congress last week, arguing he did not have the legal authority to extend the ban without legislative approval.
House Democrats pressed Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen on Tuesday to do more to help struggling renters who are at risk of being forced out of their homes, saying the Biden administration should have extended an eviction moratorium that expired last weekend and pressing the Treasury Department to do whatever it takes to get rental aid out the door.
In a private call between Democrats and Ms. Yellen, the Treasury secretary insisted that her team was using all available tools to get rental assistance money to states and to help governments distribute those funds to landlords and renters. She told lawmakers that the administration would "leave no stone unturned" to address the national emergency.
"I thoroughly agree we need to bring every resource to bear," Ms. Yellen said, according to a person who was on the call.
Ms. Pelosi, for her part, has been trying close the gap between Democratic progressives and a group of about a dozen moderates in her caucus who blocked efforts to pass a bill last week that would have extended the freeze through the end of the year.
Ms. Pelosi said on the call that the eviction moratorium needed to be extended. Ms. Yellen noted that Mr. Biden has asked the C.D.C. to see if it is legally possible to extend the eviction ban and that she was hopeful they will look carefully at that.
On Monday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said Mr. Biden had asked the C.D.C. on Sunday to consider extending the moratorium for 30 days, even just to high-risk states, but said the C.D.C. has "been unable to find legal authority for a new, targeted eviction moratorium. Our team is redoubling efforts to identify all available legal authorities to provide necessary protections."
The administration appears to be coalescing around a solution to that legal issue by imposing a new moratorium, rather than extending the existing one.
At the White House briefing on Tuesday, Ms. Psaki said the administration was exploring all potential solutions, including a "partial limited short term extension" but that no decisions had been made.
At a White House meeting with Mr. Biden on Friday, Ms. Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the majority leader, bluntly informed Mr. Biden they did not have the votes to pass an extension — and pressed him to take whatever action he could using his executive power, according to two Democratic congressional aides briefed on the meeting.
The Biden administration has said that it lacks the legal authority to extend the moratorium and has called on Congress to find a legislative solution. On Monday, the administration called on states to ramp up their efforts to provide more federal aid to struggling renters — while issuing a desperate plea for localities to extend their own local moratoriums.
In a letter to colleagues on Tuesday, Ms. Pelosi said she would discuss with Ms. Yellen how to expedite the disbursement of the $46.5 billion that Congress allocated to keep people in their homes.
"I am pleased that accelerating rental assistance is a stated priority of the administration," Ms. Pelosi said.
But senior Democrats have been pushing the White House to do more.
"I wish that the president, the C.D.C. would have gone forward and extended the moratorium," Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California who is chairwoman of the House Financial Services Committee, said in an interview with The New York Times on Monday. "They have the power to do that. I think he should have gone in and he should have done it, and let the chips fall where they may."
Ms. Waters echoed that sentiment in a letter to colleagues on Tuesday, assailing the Biden administration for its "refusal" to extend the moratorium and for a "last-minute punt to Congress."
With the moratorium in limbo, Ms. Yellen is under added pressure to make the rental assistance money flow. Only about $3 billion of the $46 billion had been delivered to eligible households through June, according to Treasury Department data.
In recent weeks, Ms. Yellen's deputy, Wally Adeyemo, visited Houston and Arlington, Va., where rental assistance distribution has been going well, to help raise awareness about the program and understand how to make it more effective.
The Treasury Department is stepping up its efforts to raise awareness about the rental assistance money, potentially through radio or social media campaigns, and trying to let governments know the administration can offer additional support to states that lack the infrastructure to distribute the rental assistance money efficiently.
Ms. Yellen told lawmakers that the Treasury Department would be sending packets of information with material that could be used in advertisements and through social media channels in their districts.
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Hopefully this will be the last one needed........................it needs to be.
As stated elsewhere, a lot of people here in my county are behind the 8 ball but aren't applying for the funds. I know why some aren't.
I am on the fence about this. On one hand people were stuck at home and lost jobs. On the other hand landlords cannot receive no income.
Sort of a double edge sword.
I don't. They have hardly used any of the funds.
There was $46 billion allocated for renters and landlords and as of today only $3 or $4 billion has been distributed.
WTF is the hold up?
Agreed. But with the illegal population in Mecklenburg county, SOME may see it as tattling on themselves. And the funds, as you say, are there. If I were a landlord I would apply for them myself some way or another or compel the tenants to. But with the moratorium, there really wasn't any reason for the tenants to do it. I am sure not many of them knew that the gravy train was going to end.
If I was a landlord, I would tell them to apply. I can't believe that as long as the program has been going, only that small amount was spent.
I would want to apply just to be on the good side of my landlord and give them some relief.
Then again, when I rented, I always treated it as my own. Took care of the place.
And you really can't rule out the nefarious crowd. Those that really didn't have much of a hardship taking advantage of the situation. Really no legal way for the landlord to prove or disprove their "need". I just don't know.
It was on the news for the last two days and a number of politicians from both parties were asking why in the hell hasn't this money been distributed?
It is up to the states not the feds to distribute the money.
Both renters and landlords are eligible to apply for assistance.
Ditto here. Actually bought the house we had been living in for 4 1/2 years as the landlord wanted out from under it so he and his wife could upgrade their home.
Same here. After Katrina ended up renting this house, then bought it.
It seems like all states have dropped the ball.
Case in point, I know of someone in the Las Vegas area (landlord) that applied almost 3 months ago and not heard a word back yet.
Major fail.
Wouldn't that put the money still out there in limbo...
I can support a new moratorium, there's too many people who are right at the brink.
But I think this one needs to also have teeth to hold state and local officials personally responsible for sitting on the billions of dollars allocated to help this situation. There are too many stories everywhere of people who have applied for assistance and have not heard back. This is a huge failure at the state and local level and IMO these people need to be held personally accountable.
At the same time I expect some jackass to file a court case to hold this up as it's already been ruled unconstitutional and even SCOTUS stated that Congress needed to do something. But hell, even jackasses need to get their name into the public eye. Isn't that the saying, even bad publicity is good?
Time to hold state reps accountable for their state. It seems too many get to Washington and forget that little aspect.
I cut 'em a little bit of slack... after all it takes a lot of effort and brain power to go to Washington as a regular person and come out of it as a multimillionaire on an only $174k starting salary... /s
Continuing to kick the can will turn this into a humongous mess. A moratorium on eviction doesn't forgive rent that is owed. While Democrats are bickering with each other, huge debts are being racked up. What are Democrats going to do about that? Democrats can't keep the pandemic going forever.
Here is a link to the amount that Florida has received and the amount that they have distributed, 3%.
You know, for people worried about the economy, that money would be circulated.
Instead, it sits.