Biden seeks to expand bans on evictions and foreclosures

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One of the many executive steps Biden plans to take on Wednesday is a signal from the new administration that immediate action is needed to stabilize housing for the roughly 25 million tenants and landlords at risk of losing their homes. House.

“President-elect Biden is taking historic steps from day one to move his agenda forward – including signing 15 executive actions and asking agencies to take action in two additional areas,” said Jen Psaki, new press secretary at the White House.

The action aims to extend the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s federal moratorium on eviction for non-payment of rent by two months. The CDC order first came into effect in September, and the latest stimulus bill extended protection until January 31.

President-elect Biden will also ask the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Housing and Urban Development to extend foreclosure moratoria on federally funded mortgages until March 31. He will ask those agencies to accept forbearance requests for federal mortgage guarantees until then as well.

On Tuesday, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) extended its foreclosure and eviction moratoria until the end of February. But the elected president will ask that this period be extended. Biden will also ask companies to continue accepting forbearance requests for all loans guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 14 million adults living in rental housing were behind on their rent in December. That is to say 1 in 5 tenants. It is estimated at 11.8 million adults are behind on their mortgage.

These gaps have a disproportionate impact on color families. While 12% of white renters said they had not been able to catch up on rent, 24% of Latinos and 28% of black renters said they were behind.

While Biden’s executive action will provide immediate protections, administration officials say bans on evictions and foreclosures are not enough.

That’s why the president-elect is also asking Congress to approve a Covid relief bill that would provide $ 35 billion in rents, utilities and relief for the homeless. This would be in addition to the $ 25 billion in rent relief included in the second stimulus adopted in December.
Rent relief is essential because an eviction ban does not cancel the rent. According to an estimate by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, it will cost $ 76.1 billion over twelve months just to help very low and very low income households made up of tenants affected by this pandemic. During this time, the small owners are in a hurry.

Distressed tenants had been protected by a patchwork of federal, state and local eviction moratoria, many of which expired over the summer. The first major stimulus program offered limited eviction protection for tenants whose owners had federally funded mortgages and for those who lived in federally subsidized housing.

The owners are short of money. `` We don't get unemployment ''
In September, the Centers for Disease Control put in place a moratorium on evictions that protected all eligible tenants from being evicted for non-payment of rent. The emergency ordinance temporarily bans new and previously filed evictions in an attempt to prevent further transmission of the coronavirus.
But it’s up to the tenant to invoke protection. And despite the ban, evictions are still ongoing.

A moratorium on evictions imposed by the federal government will provide much-needed relief to those on the front lines helping troubled tenants.

“If all we get is an extension of the CDC order, we will accept it,” said Dana Karni, chief counsel for the Lone Star Legal Aid deportation project in Texas.

But she added that many tenants were still being evicted. In Harris County, Texas, she said it was the minority of disputed tenants who used CDC protection. The CDC order does not protect against a landlord failing to renew a lease when it expires.

“In other words, things look awfully grim in Houston,” Karni said.

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