Biden Asks Congress to Extend Federal Moratorium on Evictions

President Joe Biden believes Congress must extend the moratorium.

Photo: erin scott/Reuters

July 29, 2021 11:10 am ET

The Biden administration is requesting that Congress act to extend a federal moratorium on the evictions of tenants who have fallen behind on their rent during the Covid-19 pandemic, citing tenants’ “heightened vulnerability” because of the Delta variant of the virus.

President Biden would have “strongly supported” a move to further extend the existing moratorium, scheduled to expire on Saturday, but that option is no longer legally viable after a recent Supreme Court ruling, the administration said in a statement by press secretary Jen Psaki.

Hundreds of thousands of renters may miss rent payments for May 2020 as the coronavirus crisis entered its third month in the U.S. For smaller landlords, that means facing their own financial crisis. WSJ’s Jason Bellini reports. Photo: Fadhila Hussein

Write to Andrew Ackerman at [email protected]