After court nixes eviction ban, race is on for federal help

BOSTON (AP) — The recent court ruling striking down a national eviction moratorium has heightened concerns that tenants won't receive tens of billions of dollars in promised federal aid in time to avoid getting kicked out of their homes.

A federal judge on Wednesday found the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention exceeded its authority when it imposed the moratorium last year. Housing advocates believe the ban saved lives and not only should continue, but be extended past its initial June 30 deadline.

For now, the moratorium remains: A judge stayed the court's order following an appeal from the Justice Department.

Without the moratorium, advocates say, the only thing standing between many tenants and eviction is the nearly $50 billion allocated by Congress for rental assistance. Advocates say very few tenants have received any of the money — which is up to individual states to distribute — and they fear it won't get to the neediest people in time if the moratorium is scrapped.

“Unfortunately, rental assistance funds are not reaching struggling families nearly as quickly as is needed,” said Oren Sellstrom, litigation director for the Lawyers for Civil Rights in Boston. “Here in Massachusetts, tenants report that submitting a rental assistance application is like sending it into a black hole.”

The government didn't do much better last year, when several states failed to spend the federal coronavirus relief monies they had set aside for rental assistance, the advocates said. Among them were New York, Pennsylvania, Louisiana, Mississippi and Kansas.

Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, said some of the same problems are being seen now, namely landlords refusing to participate, programs refusing to give money directly to tenants and...