The federal ban on evictions was imposed through the Centers of Disease Control, the health agency at the center of the government’s pandemic response.
Why the CDC? ABC News explains,
“The CDC has said the policy, first enacted in September and recently extended through the end of June, helps stop the spread of the coronavirus by limiting the number of people who lose their housing and have to live in shared housing, homeless shelters or on the streets.”
But, the story says (read it here), “There isn’t much academic research on how evictions influence infectious disease,” and the CDC is relying on a legal authority that’s inferred, not spelled out, in the governing statute.
Landlords who’ve challenged the CDC eviction ban in court appear to be winning. Even the eviction ban’s defenders acknowledge the CDC’s interpretation of the law may be “a stretch.”
Property owners tend to argue eviction bans interfere with their property rights. But government has broad authority to regulate businesses, and rental housing is a business. So opponents of the CDC’s eviction ban probably will do better to argue the agency exceeded the authority given it by Congress when the latter enacted the law the former is relying on. However, that still leaves state eviction bans to deal with.