Lobbyists feel betrayed after Biden’s eviction reversal

US President Joe Biden’s decision to revive the eviction ban in response to intense pressure from progressive Democrats has left certain influential business coalitions feeling betrayed. They shower money on the lawmakers from both major parties.

The National Association of Realtors and its housing industry allies offer both Republican and Democratic parties millions of dollars in contributions and often get their way in big policy decisions, according to Politico.

At Biden’s request, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the revised national ban on evictions on Tuesday.

The new ban covers parts of the country that are experiencing what the CDC calls "substantial" and "high" spread of the coronavirus — currently about 80 percent of counties.

The influential business coalitions considered the ban a huge political loss.

Housing lobbyists said they were left out of discussions with the Biden administration on the fate of the ban, which cost property owners billions of dollars a month in losses.  

An improvised resistance campaign led by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and other recently elected progressive lawmakers outdid more than a dozen industry trade groups. The lawmakers had protested the ban’s expiration on the steps of the Capitol.

House Financial Services Chair Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) dismissed their concerns as she also lobbied to revive the eviction prohibition. She has received tens of thousands of dollars in contributions from the Realtors as one of the top lawmakers on housing issues.

US National Association of Home Builders CEO Jerry Howard said the industry felt “whiplash” after Biden’s decision. The group includes about 3,000 property managers impacted by the original moratorium.

“It certainly is a slap in the face to the housing industry and to the people that shelter America,” Howard said.

Diane Yentel, a top affordable housing advocate who lobbied for Biden to revive the ban, said realtors, home builders and apartment associations wasted millions of dollars “in a public fight to allow landlords to evict struggling tenants during a historic and deadly global pandemic.”

US landlords sue Biden administration over new ban on evictions of renters

US President Joe Biden is facing legal action for extending a moratorium on evictions of renters.

The original ban that was first implemented in September, last year, expired Saturday night.

An estimated 6.5 million households presently are facing eviction for unpaid rent in the US.

White House officials had also acknowledged on Monday they did not have the legal authority to reissue the ban.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki, however, defended the decision at a media briefing on Wednesday.

“The president would not have moved forward with a step that he did not feel comfortable in the legal justification,” Psaki said.

“This is a narrow, targeted moratorium that is different from the national moratorium,” she added.

A lower court in May had ruled in favor of a coalition of landlords, who argued that “Congress never gave the CDC the staggering amount of power it now claims.”

The Biden administration had previously admitted it didn't have the legal authority to issue such a measure.

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