Landlord groups urge U.S. Supreme Court to end pandemic eviction ban
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[June 04, 2021]
By Jan Wolfe and Michelle Conlin
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A group of landlords
on Thursday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to issue an order that would
effectively end the federal government's national ban on residential
evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.
In an emergency petition, the landlord groups said a May 5 lower court
decision nullifying the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's
(CDC) eviction moratorium should go into effect immediately.
Led by the Alabama Association of Realtors, the landlord groups argued
that the CDC exceeded its authority when it halted evictions to help
renters during the pandemic.
Despite ruling in favor of the landlords last month, U.S. District Judge
Dabney Friedrich in Washington agreed to "stay," or halt, her ruling
from taking immediate effect to allow the Biden administration to
appeal.
"The stay order cannot stand," the landlord group argued in its
petition.
"Every day the stay remains in place, applicants' property continues to
(be) unlawfully occupied and their rental income continues to be
unlawfully cut off," the landlords added. "Nine months of overreach is
enough. This Court should vacate the stay."
The CDC's eviction ban, enacted in September while former President
Donald Trump was in office, is set to expire on June 30.
In a blow to the landlords, an intermediate appeals court on Wednesday
said it would not lift the stay order put in place by Friedrich.
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Protesters surround the LA Superior Court to prevent an upcoming
wave of evictions and call on Governor Gavin Newsom to pass an
eviction moratorium, amid the global outbreak of coronavirus disease
(COVID-19), in Los Angeles, California, U.S., August 21, 2020.
REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia said in that decision that the CDC eviction ban was likely
lawful, but it has not yet issued a ruling on the merits of the
case.
In the landlords' appeal to the Supreme Court, the group said:
“Landlords have been losing over $13 billion every month under the
moratorium, and the total effect of the CDC’s overreach may reach up
to $200 billion if it remains in effect for a year."
Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing
Coalition, said the landlords' appeal to the nation's highest court
was "astonishing" because $50 billion in funding was available
nationally to pay the rent arrears owed to them.
"If they spent even a quarter of that effort instead convincing
landlords to apply for and accept the money," said Yentel, "maybe
they wouldn’t feel such a pressing need to evict low-income tenants
who fell behind on rent during the global pandemic."
(Reporting by Jan Wolfe in Washington and Michelle Conlin in New
York; Editing by Richard Chang and Cynthia Osterman)
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