Congresswomen Cori Bush, Ilhan Omar and Ayanna Pressley all slept on the steps of the Capitol over the weekend to protest the eviction moratorium.
The moratorium expired on Saturday at midnight. It was enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to protect renters after the pandemic rocked the economy.
“It’s not OK to just sit back and allow 7 million people, possibly upwards of 7 million people to be at risk for eviction in a little more than 24 hours,” Bush told WUSA. “We can’t just sit back and allow that. As a sitting member of Congress, it’s our duty— it’s my duty, to make sure that I’m representing everyone in my district.”
Bush penned a letter to her fellow Congress members to remain until the moratorium has been extended.
“We must do everything possible to protect the nearly 6.2 million households at risk of eviction,” she wrote. “I’m urging you as a formerly unhoused congresswoman, I have been evicted three times myself. I know what it’s like to be forced to live in my car with my two children. Now that I am a member of Congress, I refuse to stand by while millions of people are vulnerable to experiencing that same trauma that I did.”
What You Should Know:
The moratorium protects from evictions due to nonpayment of rent and not evictions for other reasons. Landlords are not allowed to evict tenants for not renewing a lease or for a breach of lease.
Unless a local law for an extension has been passed — landlords can begin legal proceedings effective immediately.
The following states have chosen to extend the moratorium:
California, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Washington state and Washington, D.C.
