4 ms·
> There is/was a rent moratorium in the US But that's just not true. There may have been some small local/regional areas that did (not aware of any, but maybe.
by abeyer 6y ago
> There is/was a rent moratorium in the US
But that's just not true. There may have been some small local/regional areas that did (not aware of any, but maybe...) and some individual landlords may have, but there was never a federal rent moratorium.
What was done at the federal level was a temporary _eviction_ moratorium... but rents are still incurred and due (plus penalties and interest for late payments.) The restriction is simply that landlords can't evict during the period of the moratorium for late/non-payment anyone who lost jobs/hours during the pandemic and would likely become homeless or be forced to live with additional people.
- fennecfoxen 6y agoThe federal eviction moratorium has been overturned as unconstitutional, a court concluding "that the federal government's Article I power to regulate interstate commerce and enact laws necessary and proper to that end does not include the power to impose the challenged eviction moratorium." (Notice that Terkel vs CDC was a declaratory judgment on the constitutional question of the Commerce Clause, while earlier cases upholding the moratorium challenged it on the premise the CDC exceeded its authority, or that its use of that authority was an unlawful delegation of legislative power. Litigation will probably continue.) If the government tried went beyond that to a rent moratorium, they'd definitely lose. It would be a "Law impairing the Obligation of Contracts," explicitly forbidden in the Constitution. Like, the original Constitution, not even an amendment: the Constitutional Convention forbade it even before they guaranteed the freedom of religion and of speech.