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Tell the White House:
"Tens of billions of dollars of rental assistance must reach renters and landlords. The Supreme Court ruling that rejects the moratorium on evictions makes that essential and urgent. Evictions during a pandemic risk lives and drive families deeper into poverty—and at any time, evictions can precipitate years of economic loss. The White House must push state and local governments to get already-allocated rental assistance out the door to renters and landlords immediately!"
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John,
The Supreme Court issued a ruling Thursday that rejects the Biden administration’s moratorium on evictions, a policy which was designed to help keep millions of people in their homes in the midst of a deadly pandemic.
The Supreme Court's ruling places ever more urgency on correcting an administrative logjam that is stopping tens of billions of dollars in rental aid from getting out the door by states and localities. In fact, just $5.1 billion of more than $46 billion in authorized aid had been disbursed by the end of July.1
That is pathetic. It’s critical the White House do more to help and push state and local governments to disperse the already-approved federal funds to renters and landlords. Sign the petition today!
The majority opinion from the Supreme Court said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority by issuing the rental eviction moratorium. The Court's majority opinion wrote: "our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends. If a federally imposed eviction moratorium is to continue Congress must specifically authorize it."
The federal eviction moratorium was a lifeline for millions of families, a vital federal protection keeping them safely and stably housed throughout the pandemic.
The ruling, in the words of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, "will lead to many renters, predominantly people of color, losing their homes before the assistance can reach them."2
Without the eviction moratorium in place, we must demand the White House act urgently to get billions of dollars in rental aid out the door. Consider this stunning fact: "16 states have spent less than 5 percent of their funds as of the end of last month, including renter-heavy New York, which had distributed less than 3 percent of its allocation," according to Politico.3
Add your name! Tell the White House to help streamline these bureaucratic delays at the state and local levels. Tens of billions of dollars in aid, which has already been authorized, needs to be dispersed immediately!
Thank you for all you do to demand accountability from our political leaders and to fight for the needs of working families, the vulnerable, the sick and the poor.
Deborah Weinstein
Executive Director, Coalition on Human Needs
1 https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/27/us/eviction-moratorium-ends.html
2 https://www.nlihc.org/news/statement-diane-yentel-nlihc-president-and-ceo-supreme-courts-ruling-lift-federal-eviction
3https://www.politico.com/news/2021/08/25/rental-aid-bottlenecks-506868
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