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Landlords, apartment owners and housing industry groups have unleashed a barrage of legal challenges against the Trump administration’s order protecting renters from eviction, leaving millions of families once again facing the risk of homelessness in the middle of a deadly pandemic, the Washington Post reported. Over the past month, an array of lawyers and lobbyists have inundated federal, state and local courts. They have sought to stop renters from invoking the federal ban, and in some cases, they’ve tried to quash the policy altogether, arguing that the government did not have the authority to issue it in the first place. The flurry of lawsuits has created a wave of legal uncertainty, exposing millions of Americans once again to the sort of hardships the Trump administration initially sought to prevent. Federal officials tried to clarify some of the ambiguity in policy guidance issued late Friday night. But the update instead appeared to give landlords a clearer green light to start eviction proceedings against some cash-strapped renters, even though a moratorium remains in place until the end of the year.

Nearly 1,600 Wells Fargo customers say the bank paused their mortgage payments without their consent, far more than previously known, according to correspondence the bank sent to two U.S. senators in August and September, NBCNews.com reported. The letters also indicate that the bank didn't know how many customers had been affected by its practice of placing them in so-called forbearance programs, raising questions about Wells Fargo's internal controls. In July, an NBC News investigation detailed how Wells Fargo, in more than a dozen states, had suspended customers' mortgage payments without their permission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Placing customers in unwanted forbearance can harm borrowers' credit reports by making it seem as though they aren't making required payments when they are. The conduct can also prevent borrowers from refinancing their home loans to benefit from record-low interest rates. At the time, Wells Fargo said that it was trying to help borrowers potentially harmed by the pandemic by proactively pausing their mortgage payments. Following the NBC News report, Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Brian Schatz of Hawaii, both Democrats on the Banking Committee, asked the bank for information about the practice, including how many customers had been affected. Wells Fargo responded in August but didn't provide lawmakers with the number of customers whose mortgage payments had been suspended without their consent. The bank said it was "affirmatively reaching out to customers where we do not have evidence of a clear request for a forbearance," one letter said. The bank did report having received 1,600 complaints of unwanted forbearances and said it had identified about 900 customers going through personal bankruptcy who had had their mortgage payments paused even though they hadn't requested it. Wells Fargo said it doesn't "receive, nor do we pay our employees, any incentive fees or other compensation for placing customers in forbearance." 

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) on Monday announced he will extend the eviction moratorium — set to expire Oct. 1 — to next year, continuing protections for tenants as well as homeowners who have been unable to pay rent and mortgage during the public health crisis, the (Albany) Times Union reported. Cuomo said that he will sign an executive order extending the eviction moratorium, known as the Tenant Safe Harbor Act, to Jan. 1. It also protects homeowners from foreclosure for nonpayment of mortgages during the coronavirus pandemic. The extended protection builds on an extension Cuomo approved recently to protect commercial tenants and property owners from eviction or foreclosure. Protection for commercial property owners and tenants extends to Oct. 20.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-run companies that stand behind about half of the $11 trillion U.S. mortgage market, pose a potential danger to the stability of the broader financial system, a Treasury-led panel said on Friday, Politico reported. The companies still do not have enough capital to protect themselves from the massive risk in their portfolios, the Financial Stability Oversight Council concluded following a long-awaited review of the secondary mortgage market, where investors purchase home loans. The council, which consists of all the government's top financial regulators, endorsed a proposal to raise capital requirements for Fannie and Freddie, saying it would go a long way toward mitigating the peril looming over the system. Fannie and Freddie have been at the center of a fierce debate between Republicans and Democrats ever since the government rescued the two companies from collapse during the 2008 financial crisis. Republicans have pushed to boost their capital to prepare them for privatization. But some Democrats and affordable housing advocates warn that the stricter capital requirements could drive up the cost of mortgages and limit Fannie and Freddie’s ability to serve low-income communities.