The Biden administration is calling on Congress to extend pandemic protections for renters facing eviction past the end of this week, arguing that it is unable to do so on its own after the Supreme Court signaled it could only be extended until the end of the month.
The White House said President Joe Biden would have liked to extend the federal eviction moratorium due to the spread of the highly contagious Delta variant of the coronavirus. Instead, Biden called on “Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay.”
The moratorium was put in place last September by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and has been extended several times since then.
“Given the recent spread of the Delta variant, including among those Americans both most likely to face evictions and lacking vaccinations, President Biden would have strongly supported a decision by the CDC to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect renters at this moment of heightened vulnerability,” the White House said in a statement. “Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has made clear that this option is no longer available.”