Trump Issues Nationwide Moratorium on Evictions
Date postedSeptember 8, 2020
CDC wILL ENFORCE NATIONWIDE MORATORIUM
On September 1, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to allow the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to enforce a nationwide residential eviction moratorium in effect through December 31, 2020.
IMPORTANT: The CDC order "...does not apply in any State, local, territorial, or tribal area with a moratorium on residential evictions that provides the same or greater level of public-health protection than the requirements listed in this Order." Therefore, State of Illinois eviction moratorium still applies to all multifamily properties and rental agreements in the state. While it's possible that the CDC Order does not apply here (because Illinois' ban is more stringent), members should consult with their general counsel because of the severe consequences associated with non-compliance with the CDC Order. With some exceptions, evictions cannot be commenced, filed, or enforced under Governor Pritzker's Order.
If/when Governor Pritzker does not resissue the statewide eviction moratorium on September 19th, the CDC moratorium applies to all "covered persons" who meet a five-pronged threshold:
- ASSISTANCE: Tenant needs to have used "best efforts" to obtain any and all forms of government rental assistance.
- INCOME: Tenant can't "expect" to earn more than $99,000 in 2020, or $198,000 if you're married and filing a joint tax return. If tenant doesn't qualify that way, he or she could still be eligible if they did not need to report any income at all to the federal government in 2019 OR if you received a stimulus check this year.
- LOSSES: Tenant must be experiencing a "substantial" loss of household income, a layoff or "extraordinary" out-of-pocket medical expenses ("extraordinary" is defined as any expense likely to exceed 7.5 percent of your adjusted gross income this year).
- PAYMENTS: Tenants must make efforts to make "timely" partial payments that are as close to the full amount due as "circumstances may permit."
- MOVING: If eviction would "likely" lead to either homelessness or a tenant having to move to a place that was more expensive or where you could get sick from being close to others.
Following Trump's Order, the National Apartment Association issued a statement on the president's Executive Order as well as Call to Action: Please take a moment to tell Congress that an eviction moratorium by itself will devastate the apartment industry and does nothing to protect apartment communities and the 17.5 million jobs supported by the industry. We MUST have a robust rental assistance program!
Email Government Affairs Director Tom Benedetto for more information, or to ensure you are subscribed to our bi-weekly Legislative Updates.