College Columns June 2021 | Page 27

Housing Insecurity continued from page 17
governments have stalled these from happening . But policymakers have not eradicated the heightened bankruptcy risks caused by the pandemic ; they have mostly addressed the possibility of an impending homelessness crisis by extending deadlines . Charlie and I won ’ t rest until all Americans find housing protection .
1
See News Release , The Employment Situation – April 2021 , Bureau of Labor Statistics , U . S . Dept of Labor , Summary Table and Table A-4 ( May 7 , 2021 ), available at https :// www . bls . gov / news . release / pdf / empsit . pdf .
2
Id ., at Table A-4 , page 17 .
3
Household Pulse Survey , U . S . Census Bureau , Likelihood of Eviction or Foreclosure ( Week 28 , ending April 26 , 2021 ), available at https :// www . census . gov / data-tools / demo / hhp /#/? measures = EVICTFOR & period Selector = 28 & areaSelector = st ( of these respondents , residents of Indiana [ 54 %], West Virginia [ 51.3 %], South Dakota [ 48.5 %], Alaska [ 45.6 %], Iowa [ 44.4 %], Tennessee [ 44.4 %], Nevada [ 44.2 %, Oregon [ 44.2 %], Oklahoma [ 43.4 %], and Kentucky [ 41.7 %] were most likely to report strong levels of housing insecurity ).
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Id . ( Week 1 , ending May 5 , 2020 ), available at https :// www . census . gov / data-tools / demo / hhp /#/? periodSelector = 1 & measures = HINSEC _ 1 ( these figures also varied by state ).
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Federal stays on eviction and foreclosure first emerged in the CARES Act . Congress extended the stays set out in the CARES Act until July 24 , 2020 , but not thereafter . Former President Trump issued an executive memorandum in late August recommending agency regulatory protections , and by early September the Center for Disease Control promulgated a regulation to stay certain residential evictions . Center for Disease Control and Prevention , Dept . Health and Human Services , Order Under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act ( 42 U . S . C . 263 ) and 42 Code of Federal Regulations 70.2 , Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent Further Spread of COVID-19 , 85 Fed . Reg . 55,292 ( Sept . 4 , 2020 ) [ hereinafter , CDC Order ]. Congress temporarily extended the CDC Order from 31 December 2020 to 31 January 2021 as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act . Pub . L . No . 116-260 , § 502 , 134 Stat . 1182 ( 2020 ), but not thereafter . The Center for Disease Control itself extended the CDC Order , most recently to June 30 , 2021 . CDC Order ( March 24 , 2021 ), available at https :// www . cdc . gov / coronavirus / 2019-ncov / more / pdf / CDC-Eviction- Moratorium-03292021 . pdf . In May 2021 , a federal district judge for the District of Columbia ruled that the CDC exceeded its authority under the Public Health Service Act ( PHSA ) by imposing a nationwide eviction
moratorium . Ala . Ass ’ n of Realtors v . U . S . Dep ’ t of Health & Hum . Servs ., 1:20-cv-03377 ( D . D . C . May 5 , 2021 ). See also COVID-19 : Federal Judge Rules CDC not Authorized to Issue Nationwide Eviction Moratorium , The National Review ( May 10 , 2021 ), available at https :// www . natlawreview . com / article / covid-19-federal-judge-rules-cdc-notauthorized-to-issue-nationwide-eviction . The district court subsequently agreed to stay this order pending appeal to the D . C . Circuit Court of Appeals . COVID-19 Update : Decision Striking Down CDC Federal Eviction Moratorium Temporarily Stayed , The National Review ( May 12 , 2021 ), available at https :// www . natlawreview . com / article / covid-19-update-decision-striking-downcdc-federal-eviction-moratorium-temporarily .
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For information on state moratoria , see Justia , Eviction , Mortgage , & Foreclosure Relief During COVID-19 : 50-State Resources , available at https :// www . justia . com / covid-19 / 50-state-covid-19-resources / eviction-mortgage-foreclosure-relief-during-covid-19- 50-state-resource /.
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For research on the frequency of evictions notwithstanding the CDC Order , see Pete Hepburn and Renee Louis , Preliminary Analysis : Six Months of the CDC Eviction Moratorium , The Eviction Lab : Princeton University ( finding that eviction filings were at 50.1 % of historical average ), available at https :// evictionlab . org / six-months-cdc /.
8
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau , Press Release , New Report From Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Finds Over 11 Million Families At Risk Of Losing Housing ( March 1 , 2021 )( hereinafter , CFPB Report ), available at https :// www . consumerfinance . gov / about-us / newsroom / new-report-from-consumer-financial-protectionbureau-finds-over-11-million-families-at-risk-of-losinghousing /. 9
Id .
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Id .
11
For discussion of homelessness during the Great Depression , see , e . g ., MATTHEW DESMOND , EVICTED : POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN CITY ( 2017 ); Elaine S . Abelson , “ Women Who Have No Men to Work for Them ”: Gender and Homelessness in the Great Depression , 1930-1934 , 29 FEM . STUD . 1 ( 2003 ).
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Id .
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Id .
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