The Alabama Association of Realtors, along with other plaintiffs, delivered a huge win for property rights and rental owners as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) recently-extended eviction moratorium.
This means that evictions for non-payment of rent are no longer prohibited by the federal government.
“The United States Supreme Court’s decision is the correct one, from both a legal standpoint and a matter of fairness. It brings an end to an unlawful policy that places financial hardship solely on the shoulders of mom-and-pop housing providers, who provide nearly half of all rental housing in America, and it restores property rights across the country,” Alabama Realtors said in a statement. “The federal government cannot seize a person’s land, their farm, their home, or their private property unlawfully and unconstitutionally without due process and just compensation afforded by the Constitution.
Further, the federal government cannot block a person’s constitutional right to access the courts, to seek redress, and to defend against the federal government’s unlawful takings in the court system.”
The nation’s highest court overturned the eviction moratorium, which was implemented to bar landlords from evicting tenants who reside in counties that were heavily impacted by COVID-19 that failed to meet their monthly payment obligations.
Many landlords have experienced financial hardship due to the CDC-mandated moratorium as property owners were still legally bound to pay their bank notes while tenants were granted remission of rent payments.
“No housing provider wants to evict a tenant—it is always a last resort and reserved for the rarest cases. The best solution for all parties is rental assistance, and all energy should go toward its swift distribution,” continued Alabama Realtors in their statement. “Nearly $50 billion of aid is now available in every state to cover up to a year-and-a-half of combined back and future rent and utilities for struggling tenants.”
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), the cabinet-level department which houses the CDC, was handed a legal defeat due to the Supreme Court finding that the Alabama Association of Realtors was correct in its assertion that the CDC does not hold the authority to arbitrarily issue or extend such a broad-sweeping order.
The ruling concludes in part, “It is indisputable that the public has a strong interest in combating the spread of the COVID–19 Delta variant. But our system does not permit agencies to act unlawfully even in pursuit of desirable ends.”
