A national ban on most residential evictions expired after Saturday, setting the stage for a potentially widespread displacement of low-income renters that looks poised to hit Southern states particularly hard, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, only about $3 billion out of $46.6 billion in federal rental assistance meant to prevent tenant evictions and help struggling landlords had reached landlords and tenants by the end of June, according to the U.S. Treasury Department, which noted that the pace at which local programs were disbursing the funds has been increasing. The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enacted the eviction ban in September to prevent evictions of millions of tenants who were unable to pay rent because of financial hardship during the pandemic. The CDC has extended the moratorium three times. The White House said on Wednesday that only the U.S. Congress could extend it again, citing a Supreme Court ruling that limited the CDC’s power to renew it. But lawmakers failed to reach an agreement to renew the ban.
