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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 127 / Wednesday, July 7, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
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pandemic.9 In comparison, approximately 900,000 renter households are evicted in a typical year.10
On September 4, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention CDC
published an agency order entitled Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions To Prevent the Further Spread of COVID19 CDC Order.11 Citing the historic threat to public health posed by the COVID19 pandemic, the CDC
Order established an eviction moratorium that generally limits the circumstances in which certain persons may be evicted from residential property.12 The CDC Order initially was set to expire on December 31, 2020.13
The CDC Order has been extended four times and currently is set to expire on July 31, 2021.14
In addition to the CDCs eviction moratorium, Federal, State, and local governments have taken a variety of other actions to alleviate the rental housing-related impacts of the COVID
19 pandemic, including establishing other eviction moratoria and rental assistance programs. For instance, section 4024 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act CARES Act 15 provided a temporary moratorium on eviction filings 16 as well as other protections for tenants in certain rental properties with Federal assistance or federally related financing.17 In addition, as discussed in more detail below, the Federal Emergency Rental Assistance ERA
9 CFPB Housing Insecurity Report, supra note 6, at 15 citing Aspen Inst., The COVID19 Eviction Crisis: An Estimated 3040 Million People in America Are at Risk Aug. 7, 2020, https
www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-peoplein-america-are-at-risk/.
10 Id. citing Eviction Lab, Princeton Univ., https evictionlab.org/national-estimates/ May 11, 2018.
11 85 FR 55292 Sept. 4, 2020.
12 See id.; see also 42 U.S.C. 264 and its implementing regulation 42 CFR 70.2.
13 85 FR 55292, 55297 Sept. 4, 2020.
14 Section 502 of title V, Division N of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021, Public Law 116260, 134 Stat. 1182, 2078 2020, extended the original CDC Order until January 31, 2021. On January 29, 2021, following an assessment of the ongoing pandemic, the CDC Director renewed the CDC Order until March 31, 2021. 86 FR 8020 Feb.
3, 2021. On March 29, 2021, the CDC Director extended the CDC Order until June 30, 2021. 86 FR
16731 Mar. 31, 2021. On June 24, 2021, the CDC
Director extended the CDC Order until July 31, 2021. 86 FR 34010 June 28, 2021.
15 CARES Act section 4024, Public Law 116136, 134 Stat. 281, 492 2020.
16 The temporary eviction moratorium under the CARES Act expired in July 2020. Id.
17 These protections included a prohibition on charging fees, penalties, or other charges to the tenant related to the nonpayment of rent while the temporary moratorium was in place. CARES Act section 4024b2, 134 Stat. 494.

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programs established by the U.S.
Department of the Treasury Treasury have made billions of dollars available to eligible households by funding rental assistance programs administered by State and local governments.18 State and local governments have also implemented temporary eviction moratoria, rent freezes, and additional rental assistance programs.19
These governmental actions have reduced evictions so far.20 However, the Bureau is aware of concerns that some landlords may have evicted tenants in violation of applicable eviction moratoria and that other tenants may have preemptively moved out of rental housing to avoid an eviction filing or been subject to other types of informal evictions outside the judicial eviction process.21 The Bureaus analysis of recent consumer complaints indicates that renters have expressed concerns about debt collection activities following evictions, including attempts to collect questionable charges and fees.22 These reports and complaints are an area of concern for the Bureau, and Bureau staff will be monitoring and investigating eviction practices to ensure that they are complying with the law. Evicting tenants in violation of the CDC Order, State, or local moratoria, or evicting or threatening to evict them without apprising them of their legal rights under such moratoria, may violate prohibitions against deceptive and unfair practices under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act.23
infra note 31.
e.g., Eviction Lab, COVID19 HOUSING
POLICY SCORECARD, https evictionlab.org/
covid-policy-scorecard/ last visited June 17, 2021;
Perkins Coie LLP, COVID19 Related Eviction and Foreclosure Orders/Guidance 50-State Tracker June 17, 2021, https www.perkinscoie.com/en/
news-insights/covid-19-related-eviction-andforeclosure-ordersguidance-50-state-tracker.html.
20 CFPB Housing Insecurity Report, supra note 6, at 3.
21 See, e.g., 86 FR 21163, 2116667 Apr. 22, 2021; see also Ashley Balcerzak, NJ renters still being locked out by landlords despite COVID
eviction freeze Mar. 11, 2021, https
www.northjersey.com/story/news/2021/03/11/
njrental-assistance-covid-eviction-freezeignoredsome-landlords/6892203002/; Annie Nova, The CDC banned evictions. Tens of thousands have still occurred, CNBC Jan. 14, 2021, https
www.cnbc.com/2020/12/05/why-home-evictionsare-still-happeningdespite-cdc-ban.html; Jeff Ernsthausen et al., Despite Federal Ban, Landlords Are Still Moving to Evict People During the Pandemic, ProPublica Apr. 16, 2020, https
www.propublica.org/article/despite-federal-banlandlords-are-still-moving-to-evict-people-duringthe-pandemic.
22 CFPB Complaint Bulletin, supra note 3.
23 86 FR 21163, 2116364 Apr. 22, 2021; see also, e.g., Press Release, Bureau of Consumer Fin.
Prot., CFPB Acting Director Uejio & FTC Acting Chairwoman Slaughter Issue Joint Statement on Preventing Illegal Evictions Mar. 29, 2021, https

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Moreover, as the CDC Order and other measures begin to expire, many households will face difficulties navigating significant rental payment arrearages.24 Low-income and minority renters have been disproportionately affected by the economic effects of the COVID19 pandemic, including job losses.25 Although economic conditions have improved in recent months,26 13
percent of adult renters were behind on rent in May 2021.27 Renters in lowincome households were more likely to report they were behind on rental payments than those in higher-income households. As of May 2021, more than one in six renters with household incomes under $25,000 reported that they were behind on their rent.28 An estimated 19 percent of renters with children report being not caught up on rent, compared to 10 percent not living with anyone under 18.29 Minority renters were more likely to report that their household was not caught up on rent: 21 percent of Black renters, 17
percent of Hispanic renters, and 17
percent of Asian renters said they were not caught up on rent, compared to 9
percent of white renters.30 Accordingly, www.consumerfinance.gov/about-us/newsroom/
cfpb-acting-director-uejio-and-ftc-actingchairwoman-slaughter-issue-joint-statement-onpreventing-illegal-evictions/.
24 See generally Eviction Lab, Princeton Univ., https evictionlab.org/eviction-tracking/ last visited June 21, 2021. For many households, a return to pre-pandemic levels of income may allow them to make rental payments going forward, but may not permit them to pay back rent owed.
According to one report, almost half of all renter households were rental cost-burdened at the time the pandemic hit, based on 2018 numbers. See Emily Benfer et al., The COVID19 Eviction Crisis:
An Estimated 3040 Million People in America Are at Risk, Aspen Inst. Aug. 7, 2020, https
www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-peoplein-america-are-at-risk/ citing https
www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Harvard_
JCHS_Americas_Rental_Housing_2020.pdf. Rental cost burden is defined as households that pay over 30 percent of their income towards rent. Id. Also in 2018, 10.9 million renter households 25 percent of all renter households were spending over 50
percent of their income on rent each month. Id.
25 See CFPB Housing Insecurity Report, supra note 6, at 8, 18; see also Pew Research Ctr., Economic Fallout From COVID19 Continues To Hit Lower-Income Americans the Hardest Sept. 24, 2020, https www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/
2020/09/24/economic-fallout-from-covid-19continues-to-hit-lower-income-americans-thehardest/.
26 See, e.g., Press Release, Board of Governors of the Fed. Reserve Sys., Federal Reserve Issues FOMC
Statement June 16, 2021, https
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/
monetary20210616a.htm.
27 CFPB analysis of U.S. Census Bureau, Census Household Pulse Survey, Week 30 May 12May 24, 2021, https www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/
demo/tables/hhp/2021/wk30/housing1b_
week30.xlsx.
28 Id.
29 Id.
30 Id.

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