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Key Facts
- Federal level: The CDC eviction moratorium was a temporary COVID-19 measure, not a current nationwide protection.
- Federal level: The original CDC order took effect September 4, 2020, and temporarily halted certain residential evictions for nonpayment when a tenant met stated conditions and gave the landlord a declaration.
- Federal and state: The order did not cancel rent, erase lease obligations, or displace state and local protections that were more protective.
- Federal level: The Supreme Court ended enforcement of the CDC’s later moratorium on August 26, 2021, after concluding that the agency lacked sufficiently clear congressional authorization for such sweeping action.
The CDC eviction moratorium was an emergency federal public-health policy from the COVID-19 pandemic. It temporarily restricted some residential evictions, but it was never a general cancellation of rent. Its practical rules changed through extensions and a later, geographically narrower order, and the Supreme Court ultimately stopped its enforcement in August 2021.
That history matters because old forms, news reports, and web pages can make the measure appear available today. It is not. Current eviction rights and procedures ordinarily depend on state or local law, the lease, and any separate federal housing rule that applies to a particular property or program. A broader overview of nationwide pandemic measures appears in this guide to the federal eviction moratorium.
What the original CDC eviction moratorium did
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued its first order under Section 361 of the Public Health Service Act, codified at 42 U.S.C. § 264, and an implementing regulation at 42 C.F.R. § 70.2. The order took effect on September 4, 2020, and was initially scheduled to expire on December 31, 2020.
The protection was limited to a defined group of residential tenants. A tenant had to give the landlord a declaration stating, under penalty of perjury, that the order’s eligibility conditions were satisfied. Those conditions included income-related criteria, an inability to pay full rent because of substantial income loss or extraordinary medical expenses, efforts to make timely partial payments when circumstances permitted, and a likelihood that eviction would cause homelessness or force the person into crowded or shared housing.
The order generally addressed eviction for nonpayment of rent. It did not prevent eviction based on criminal activity on the premises, threats to health or safety, damage or an immediate and significant risk of damage to property, violations of building or health codes, or breaches of other contractual obligations besides timely payment of rent or similar housing payments.
The order paused removal, not the underlying debt
Coverage under the order did not forgive rent. Rent, late fees, penalties, and interest could continue to accrue as allowed by the lease and applicable law. The order also did not stop every stage of every eviction case in the same way; its central prohibition was removing a covered person from residential property during the effective period.
Nor did the CDC order replace more protective state or local measures. Its terms allowed stronger state, local, territorial, or tribal protections to remain in effect. Landlord-tenant procedure therefore continued to have an important state-law layer even while the federal order operated.
How the expiration date changed
Congress extended the initial CDC order through January 31, 2021, in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021. The CDC then issued further extensions through March 31, June 30, and July 31, 2021. The June 24 order described the July extension as the final one.
After the nationwide version expired on July 31, the CDC issued a new order on August 3, 2021. That version applied in counties experiencing substantial or high levels of community transmission and was scheduled to run through October 3, subject to changes in local transmission levels.
Why the Supreme Court stopped enforcement
The agency grounded the moratorium in a federal communicable-disease statute. Section 361 authorizes federal regulations needed to prevent communicable disease from entering the United States or spreading between states, and it identifies measures such as inspection, fumigation, disinfection, sanitation, and pest extermination.
In Alabama Association of Realtors v. Department of Health and Human Services, the Supreme Court granted an application to vacate a stay on August 26, 2021. The unsigned opinion concluded that the challengers were virtually certain to succeed on their argument that the CDC had exceeded its statutory authority. The Court reasoned that an eviction ban of that scale required clear congressional authorization and emphasized that landlord-tenant law is traditionally a state domain.
The ruling made the district court judgment against the moratorium enforceable, so the August CDC order could no longer be enforced nationwide. The Court’s action did not itself erase every state or local eviction protection; those measures rested on their own authorities and could have different coverage and expiration dates.
What the CDC moratorium means now
The CDC rent moratorium is now best understood as a closed chapter in emergency federal rulemaking. It illustrates both the reach and the limits of agency action: an agency may act under authority delegated by Congress, but courts examine the statutory text when the agency claims power with major economic and political consequences.
It also illustrates why several pandemic policies should not be blended together. Congress’s earlier CARES Act moratorium applied for 120 days to certain federally assisted or federally financed properties. The later CDC orders used public-health authority and potentially reached a much broader set of residential properties. Emergency rental-assistance programs, meanwhile, provided money under separate statutes and did not extend the CDC order merely because funding remained available.
References to a “CDC declaration” or an October 3, 2021 expiration date describe the historical program, not a current federal defense to eviction. Whether another protection applies today is a separate question governed by the current authority for that particular federal program, state, locality, or tribal jurisdiction.
Sources
- Federal Register: Original CDC eviction moratorium order
- 42 U.S.C. § 264: Regulations to control communicable diseases
- 42 C.F.R. § 70.2: Measures in the event of inadequate local control
- CDC: June 24, 2021 eviction moratorium extension order
- Federal Register: August 2021 CDC eviction moratorium order
- U.S. Supreme Court: Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS
- Congressional Research Service: Federal Role in Preventing Evictions
