Democrats try to extend from Congress the moratorium on evictions that expires in a few hours

This Saturday the moratorium against evictions due to non-payment of rent approved by the economic crisis generated by the coronavirus pandemic expires.

The president, Joe Biden, definitively closed the door to an extension from the Government on Thursday because, he affirms, it is prevented by the mandate of the Supreme Court, for which he urged Congress to approve "without delay" that extension, which It could be voted today in the House of Representatives (with a Democratic majority) and remain so at the expense of what the Senate decides (where the Republicans will have the last word).

The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Democrat Nancy Pelosi, said in a letter sent to legislators that expanding this protection mechanism is a "moral imperative."

Millions of families could be evicted due to late payment of rent starting Saturday. 

[How to benefit from Biden's help to avoid being evicted from your home]

"It is one of the most heartbreaking situations that can be seen: cribs and personal items placed in the street for everyone to see or take, families who suffer the indignity of being forced to leave their homes and have to seek refuge" Pelosi exposed.

The Rules Committee is scheduled to discuss a measure drafted by Democrat Maxime Waters on Friday morning that would extend the moratorium until Dec. 31. 

More than six million households in the United States were behind on their rent, according to March figures from the Department of Housing.

Many of them were Latino families.

On July 5, some 3.6 million people were facing eviction, according to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey.

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"Given the recent spread of the delta variant, the president would have strongly supported a decision by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to further extend this eviction moratorium to protect tenants at this time of greatest vulnerability," said the White House in a statement. 

"Unfortunately,

the Supreme Court has made it clear that this option is no longer available,

" he said.

Judicial setback

The Supreme Court approved last month,

by a narrow

5-4

majority

, maintaining the ban on evicting people behind in their payments until July 31.

But Judge Brett Kavanaugh, who voted in favor, already

warned that he would block

any additional extension, unless there was a "clear and specific authorization from Congress."

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky also announced in June that

the moratorium would not be renewed

beyond the last day of July. 

[Biden extends ban on evictions for non-payment of mortgage until June 30]

Congress allocated about

$ 47 billion in aid

, which was to go to tenants with late rent payments.

But as of June, states and local governments had only distributed about $ 3 billion out of the first $ 25 billion tranche.

Some states like New York have given out practically nothing, while several have only approved a few million dollars.

The measure was also aimed at preventing the virus from spreading among people who lost their homes and had to live on the street or in shelters.

Activists in favor of decent housing insist on the need to extend the moratorium due to the increase in cases of coronavirus and the few subsidies for rent.

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 "The confluence of the growing delta variant, with 6.5 million families behind in paying rent and at risk of eviction when the moratorium expires requires

immediate action

," demanded the executive director of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, Diane Yentel.

"The healthcare need to expand tenant protections is clear. If federal court cases make a broad extension impossible, the Biden Administration should implement all possible alternatives, including a more limited moratorium on federally backed properties." He suggested.

[An internal CDC document warns that the delta variant of COVID-19 is as contagious as chickenpox]

The United States is once again the epicenter of the pandemic, after registering more than 500,000 infections last week, the highest number in the world. 

With information from AP and The Washington Post