The delay in the federal freeze is being offset by other pro-tenant initiatives still in place. Many states and territories, including New York and California, have extended their own moratoriums, which should blunt some of the impact. In some places, judges, aware of the potential for a mass wave of displacement, said they would slow down cases and benefit more from eviction referral programs.
On Friday, several government agencies, including the Federal Housing Finance Agency, together with the Departments of Agriculture, Housing and Urban Development, and Veterans Affairs, announced that they will extend their eviction moratorium until September 30.
However, there is the potential for a spike in eviction applications to begin next week, in addition to the more than 450,000 eviction cases already filed in courts in the largest cities and states since the pandemic began in March 2020.
According to a survey by the Census Bureau, an estimated 11 million adult tenants are considered serious offenders in rent payments, but no one knows how many tenants are in danger of being evicted in the near future.
Bailey Bortolin, a tenants attorney working for the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers, said the absence of the moratorium will prompt many landlords to file their backlog of eviction lawsuits with the courts next week, prompting action for many tenants who receive eviction notices. evacuate their apartment instead of fighting.
“What we’re going to see on Monday is a drastic increase in eviction notices sent to people, and the vast majority will not go through the court process,” Ms Bortolin said.
The moratorium was set to expire on June 30, but under pressure from tenant groups, the White House and CDC extended the freeze until July 31 in hopes of using time to speed up the flow of rental aid.