The measure that temporarily prevented the eviction for non-payment of mortgages or rents in the United States was annulled this Wednesday by a federal judge.
The temporary national eviction moratorium had been established by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. The agency intended to extend this measure until June 30 of this year, but its proposal was stopped.
District Court Judge Dabney Friedrich said the CDC had acted above its authority when they established this temporary ban on evictions.
“The CDC order must be annulled,” Judge Friedrich wrote, despite the fact that Joe Biden’s new administration has tried to extend the aid, given the priority of alleviating the crisis generated by the coronavirus in that country.
The moratorium consisted of the temporary freezing of evictions, with the purpose of helping people with low income who must pay mortgages or rent, because the epidemiological crisis increased the financial problems of many people.
The judge’s decision followed a lawsuit filed by a coalition of homeowners and realtors. Landlords argued that their income was also being affected, and that the moratorium had allowed many tenants to go unpaid even before the pandemic.
Last February, a federal judge in Texas ruled that the cancellation of the rent moratorium was not a measure that could be decreed at the federal level, but that each state should make its own decision in this regard.
For this reason, in New York, for example, a new legislation this week approved an extension of the eviction deadlines until August 31 of this year, which will imply financial aid from the state coffers, which have a high tax rate.
The foregoing shows that despite the ruling of Judge Dabney Friedrich at the national level, this moratorium may be maintained by the state governments if they approve it in their territories.