Apparently, President Trump is canceling rent for thousands across America via an edict from the CDC:
JUST IN: The CDC declared that any landlord shall not evict any “covered person” from any residential property for failure to pay rent through the end of the year https://t.co/oOXCbVWhoO
— KITV4 (@KITV4) September 2, 2020
The agency is saying it’s to prevent the spread of COVID-19:
NEW: The CDC is ordering a sweeping nationwide halt on evictions through December for people who are struggling to pay rent due to the pandemic. The agency said the goal is to prevent the spread of COVID-19.https://t.co/E2XzA5qEmc
— NPR (@NPR) September 2, 2020
Did Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez join the administration when we weren’t paying attention?
By emergency edict, CDC purports to ban all residential evictions for nonpayment of rent through Dec. 31 nationwide. Is there some federal law giving the feds anything like this authority, and if so, how constitutional is that law? /1 https://t.co/wtvyJscP0I
— Walter Olson ? (@walterolson) September 2, 2020
Court challenges are expected:
I've been speculating since Feb. abt whether CDC might push the envelope on what Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act authorizes. I didn't expect it to come in the form of a federal eviction moratorium. Wow. I definitely expect this to be challenged in court.
— Lindsay Wiley (@ProfLWiley) September 1, 2020
We’re going to need more details, that’s for sure:
It's one thing for the feds to attach strings re: eviction to housing they're involved with financially. This appears to be broader and without that nexus. More (scanty) details here: https://t.co/IBG3MmFEVe /2
— Walter Olson ? (@walterolson) September 2, 2020
Why would anyone pay rent under this plan? Landlords who did nothing wrong will be furious:
Under the Constitution states have added levers at their disposal such as some discretion over their courts' operation; some have imposed moratoria. A federal ban thru year end would ensure what would amount to an expropriative outcome for some landlords that did no wrong. /3
— Walter Olson ? (@walterolson) September 2, 2020
Renters will still have to pay the full obligation, but how is that going to happen if the person is unemployed?
Much has already been said that it still obligates homerenters to pay full obligation. This is the main half measure. That’s never going to happen for millions of people. Not the CDC’s problem but the “partial payment” requirement leaves a lot of push back for landlords too
— Pete ?#CancelRent? Harrison (@PeteHarrisonNYC) September 2, 2020
Kicking the can, as policy:
This obviously just kicks the problem down the road. Either to a re-elected Trump who doesn’t care about evicting people at that point or a Biden admin that inherits a bomb going off. This is some scary shit but we already knew that
— Pete ?#CancelRent? Harrison (@PeteHarrisonNYC) September 2, 2020
Yikes.
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