By Natalie DeCoste
In light of the ongoing economic stress related to the pandemic, the FTC has provided guidance to businesses and consumers on preventing evictions.
The FTC’s advice is based on the CDC’s decision to extend the national moratorium on evictions through the end of June.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a historic threat to the nation’s public health. Keeping people in their homes and out of crowded or congregate settings — like homeless shelters — by preventing evictions is a key step in helping to stop the spread of COVID-19,” said CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky in a statement.
The FTC provided consumers with a blog post about the CDC’s moratorium policy. The post highlights information on the eligibility requirements for consumers seeking relief under the eviction moratorium. The post also features a link to a written declaration for consumers to provide to their landlords.
For businesses, the FTC’s blog post reiterated that both the FTC and CFPB would be monitoring eviction practices, particularly by major multistate landlords, eviction management services, and private equity firms. This monitoring will help the government agencies to ensure that these companies are complying with the law.
The heads of both the CFPB and FTC released a joint statement addressing the new guidance.
“Evicting tenants in violation of the CDC, state, or local moratoria, or threatening to evict them without apprising them of their legal rights under such moratoria, may violate prohibitions against deceptive and unfair practices, including under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act and the Federal Trade Commission Act. We will not tolerate illegal practices that displace families and expose them—and by extension all of us—to grave health risks,” said Acting Chairwoman Rebecca Kelly Slaughter and CFPB Acting Director Dave Uejio in a joint statement.
The CFPB has paid close attention to the pandemic’s impact on consumers. In light of this concern, the CFPB issued a report that warns of widespread evictions and foreclosures once federal, state, and local pandemic protections come to an end, absent additional public and private action.
The report found that 11 million families are behind on their rent or mortgage payments and 2.1 million families are behind at least three months on mortgage payments, while 8.8 million are behind on rent. Homeowners alone are estimated to owe almost $90 billion in missed payments.
“We have very little time to prevent millions of families from losing their homes to eviction and foreclosure. At the CFPB, we are working hard to help homeowners and renters as the U.S. begins to turn a painful crisis, caused by the pandemic, into a robust recovery. We know small landlords are struggling, too, with many dipping into savings or using credit cards to make it through the pandemic. We want everyone—homeowners and renters, landlords, and mortgage servicers—to have the tools they need now to avoid unnecessary evictions and foreclosures,” warned Director Uejio.
