Attorney: Eviction ban could have negative ripple effect
by Karin Johnson, WLWT-Ch. 5
The Trump administration has issued a directive halting the eviction of certain renters though the end of 2020 to prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The administration's action stems from an executive order that President Donald Trump issued in early August. It instructed federal health officials to consider measures to temporarily halt evictions. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention followed up Tuesday by declaring that any landlord shall not evict any “covered person” from any residential property for failure to pay rent.

The goal behind the new federal order is to slow the spread of the coronavirus by keeping people out of shelters.

Renters who meet certain conditions cannot be evicted if they have exhausted efforts to pay rent, seek government rental assistance and are likely to become homeless due to eviction.

While this may help thousands of Americans who are out of work, Chris Finney, who represents quite a few landlords, said it's going to hurt Americans at the same time.

"They're putting the entire burden of that on landlords rather than the government paying subsidized rent for the period of time. They're saying, 'Landlords, you just don't get to collect that rent for four months,'" Finney said.

Finney said most landlords use revenue from tenants to pay their own living expenses and mortgages.

"If you disrupt the process where the tenant stops paying rent, the landlord can't pay his mortgage, and the banks then start to fail, which is exactly what happened back in 2008," Finney said.

Finney said affordable housing is already in short supply and landlords are being pushed to invest in new housing projects.

"If landlords can't get a rate of return for their investment, they're not going to do that," Finney said. "I talked to several of them this morning, and the reality is, the bank doesn't wait. When the tax bill comes due in December, they're not going to say, 'Well, wait until next March to pay it,'" Finney said.

People who use the assistance program are still obligated to pay accrued rent in accordance with their contract.

Landlords are still permitted to pursue evictions against tenants who commit criminal acts, threaten the health or safety of others, or damage property.

The government said it will impose criminal penalties on landlords who violate the eviction ban.