A few days after the expiry of the previous regulation, the US health authorities issued a new moratorium against evictions of defaulting tenants. Until October, evictions are not possible for all parts of the country in which the number of corona infections is rising rapidly. The Biden government is doing a U-turn.
The recent increase in infections due to the particularly contagious Delta variant makes this necessary, it is now said. Previously, the existing ban had expired – and was initially not renewed. The new rule will apply to most counties in the US and protect all renters up to a certain income limit.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrates victory over Biden
Members of the “Squad” around MP Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (31, AOC for short) celebrated President Biden’s turnaround. Only a few days ago the eviction ban expired. Now it has been taken up again. AOC had fought and demonstrated to extend the ban.
The force also includes MP Cori Bush, 45, who had demonstrated against the moratorium on the steps of the Capitol for the past five days. “I came to the Capitol in my chair on Friday evening. I refused to accept Congress going on vacation while 11 million people are at risk of eviction, ”she tweeted.
MPs camp in front of the Capitol – with success
They camped in front of the Capitol for five days – with success. Bush writes: “Today our movement has moved mountains.” She shared a photo of herself with Ocasio-Cortez and MPs Mondaire Jones (34) and Jimmy Gomez (46) on the steps of the Capitol.
The previous regulation to avoid evictions in the corona pandemic, which applied to the whole country, was no longer extended after an objection by the Supreme Court. Efforts to pass a new legal regulation in the short term failed.
Hundreds of thousands – up to millions – face eviction
According to experts, this threatened hundreds of thousands of tenants with eviction proceedings. The left wing of the Democrats in Congress then ran a storm and spoke of millions of victims. The MPs accused the government of President Joe Biden (78) of failure. In individual states and municipalities, however, there were at least local moratoriums against evictions.
Biden has now called on states and municipalities again to pay out available aid for tenants in order to prevent evictions in the long term. “This is emergency aid,” said Biden. The Corona stimulus packages included almost $ 47 billion (40 billion euros) in aid for tenants. By the end of June, however, only around 3 billion had been accessed. (euc / SDA)