Reps. Lee, Pressley, Bush, Gomez, Ocasio-Cortez and Colleagues Call on Congress to Act on Eviction Moratorium
Washington, D.C. – Representative Barbara Lee (CA-13) joined Representatives Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Cori Bush (MO-01), Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), and 59 of their House colleagues in urging Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to pass legislation to extend the federal eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic.
The lawmakers’ letter follows the Supreme Court’s ruling that struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent eviction moratorium, which the lawmakers helped secure earlier this month.
“Millions of people who are currently at risk of eviction, housing insecurity, or face becoming unhoused desperately look to their elected representatives to implement legislation that will put their health and safety first and save lives,” the lawmakers wrote in their letter. “As your fellow colleagues, we implore you to act with the highest levels of urgency to advance a permanent legislative solution in a must pass legislative vehicle in order to extend the life-saving federal eviction moratorium for the duration of the deadly global health crisis.”
Only 51 percent of people in the United States are fully vaccinated, break-through infections are surging, and only 11 percent of the $46 billion in Emergency Rental Assistance that Congress authorized to provide financial relief to renters and landlords has been distributed by states and localities. Black, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous households are more likely to report being behind on their rental payments, with nearly 600,000 seniors and nearly 20 percent of senior renters who are people of color are behind on rent. Additionally, communities with lower vaccination rates and higher COVID-19 cases tend to be the same as those with renters at heightened risk of eviction without an eviction moratorium.
With the Supreme Court ruling striking down the CDC’s eviction moratorium, the lawmakers are calling on Speaker Pelosi and Leader Schumer to advance a legislative solution to extend the eviction moratorium in a must-pass legislative vehicle.
“The impending eviction crisis is a matter of public health and safety that demands an urgent legislative solution to prevent further harm and needless loss of human life,” the lawmakers continued. “If we do not act, the end of the eviction moratorium will undoubtedly lead to the increased spread of COVID-19, more deaths, disability, and trauma. We implore you to act with the urgency this moment demands…”
Earlier this month, Rep. Barbara Lee joined House Democrats in calling on the White House to extend the eviction moratorium.
Joining Reps. Lee, Pressley, Bush, Gomez and Ocasio-Cortez in sending the letter are Reps. Grace Meng, Jan Schakowsky, James P. McGovern, Raúl M. Grijalva, Suzanne Bonamici, Rick Larsen, Mark Takano, Betty McCollum, Marie Newman, Frederica S. Wilson, Mike Doyle, Pramila Jayapal, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Jamaal Bowman, David N. Cicilline, Diana DeGette, Henry C. “Hank” Johnson Jr. , Jesús G. “Chuy” García, Alan Lowenthal, Veronica Escobar, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Darren Soto, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Nydia M. Velázquez, Andy Levin, Rashida Tlaib, Barbara Lee, Debbie Dingell, Jim Cooper, Carolyn B. Maloney, Bobby L. Rush, Nikema Williams, Alma S. Adams, Ph.D., Yvette D.Clarke, Ilhan Omar, Brenda L. Lawrence, Adam B. Schiff, Ruben Gallego, Kaiali‘i Kahele, Teresa Leger Fernandez, Dwight Evans, Jared Huffman, Al Green, Adriano Espaillat, Linda T. Sánchez, Gregory Meeks, Ritchie Torres, Earl Blumenauer, Gerald E. Connolly, Robert C. "Bobby" Scott, Danny K. Davis, Jamie Raskin, Ro Khanna, Michael F.Q. San Nicolas, Gwen Moore, Jerrold Nadler, Brian Higgins, Mark Pocan, Madeleine Dean and Mondaire Jones.