More Courts Rule Against CDC's Eviction Moratorium

Another court has taken the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to task for its eviction moratoriums.

Last week, a federal court in Ohio ruled that the CDC lacked the authority to enact its recent national eviction moratoriums. It did not issue a preliminary injunction.

The Ohio case represents the second time the courts found CDC’s eviction moratorium to be unlawful.

In late February, US District Judge John Barker in Texas ruled that the CDC’s eviction moratorium was unconstitutional. The ruling does not affect states’ eviction moratoriums. 

The judge did not issue a preliminary injunction in the Texas case.

The plaintiffs in the lawsuit argued that the federal government does not have the authority to order property owners not to evict specific tenants. Instead, the decision whether to enact an eviction moratorium rests with a given state.

Congress does not have the authority to grant CDC this power, Barker found, who also said the moratorium could encroach on landlords’ rights under state law.  “Although the COVID-19 pandemic persists, so does the Constitution,” he wrote.

The National Multifamily Housing Council says that the Ohio case did not address those constitutional questions. Instead, it looked specifically at “whether Congress has authorized the CDC to adopt a nationwide eviction moratorium.”

While the CDC relied on the Public Health Service Act to issue its Order, the court ruled that “[t]he most natural and logical reading of the statute as a whole does not extend the CDC’s power as far as Defendants maintain. Such a broad reading of the statute, … would authorize action with few, if any, limits … It would also implicate serious constitutional concerns, which Plaintiffs did not raise here”.  Ultimately, the court said “[t]he eviction moratorium in the CDC’s orders exceeds the statutory authority Congress gave the agency.”

NMHC recommends that apartment providers consult with their counsel about how best to proceed on matters relating to evictions, while also calling for an end to open-ended eviction moratoria across the country. Instead, it calls for “meaningful rental assistance that will allow apartment residents and housing providers to weather the ongoing crisis.”