Biden-Harris Administration Extends Foreclosure Moratorium to Provide Relief to Homeowners

USDA Extends Foreclosure Moratorium to July 31, 2021

The moratorium on foreclosures from USDA Single-Family Housing Direct and Guaranteed loans was extended today by the United States Department of Agriculture until July 31, 2021. Hundreds of thousands of people in rural America who have USDA-backed housing loans would benefit from these moves.

“The COVID-19 pandemic caused a nationwide housing affordability crisis in the United States, which is now being addressed. USDA Deputy Under Secretary for Rural Development Justin Maxson said, “To help this recovery, USDA is taking this vital move today to give relief to the hundreds of thousands of individuals and families who hold USDA Single-Family Housing loans.” President Biden’s strategy to get Americans immunized and the economy back on track include actions like the one we’re announcing today. As we return to a functional housing market, these concerted steps will allow more homeowners with federally backed mortgages to stay in their homes and accumulate equity for years to come.”

USDA will continue to assist homeowners who are enduring financial hardship as a result of the pandemic after July 31, 2021, by providing loss mitigation measures to help them stay in their houses.

Homeowners and renters can also go to www.consumerfinance.gov/housing for the most up-to-date information from USDA, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on their relief options, protections, and key deadlines.

COVID-19 has left an indelible mark on rural America. Families have lost their homes, pupils have turned to innovative methods to access academics online, the need for food assistance has increased, and COVID-19 testing and immunizations have become more difficult to obtain. The American Rescue Plan Act establishes financing that will benefit rural Americans both now and when the embargo expires on July 31. It contains the following features:

Rental assistance of $100 million for very low-income tenants till September 2022.

Through September 2023, the Single-Family Housing Loan Program and the Single-Family Housing Repair Loan Program will receive $39 million to help refinance direct loans.

Rural hospitals and towns will benefit from $500 million in Community Facilities Program grants to expand access to COVID-19 vaccines and food assistance.

The American Rescue Plan Act, in addition to USDA-facilitated programs, makes considerable expenditures in rural communities via boosting the internet connectivity. It also creates a homeowner assistance fund to help struggling homeowners pay their mortgages, property taxes, insurance, utilities, and other housing-related expenses.

Rural Development provides loans and grants to assist increase economic opportunities, generate jobs, and improve the quality of life for millions of Americans living in rural regions under the Biden-Harris Administration. In rural, tribal, and high-poverty communities, this assistance supports infrastructure upgrades, economic development, housing, community facilities such as schools, public safety, and health care, and high-speed internet connection. Visit www.rd.usda.gov for further information. Visit our GovDelivery subscriber page if you’d like to get USDA Rural Development updates.

Every day, the USDA has a beneficial impact on the lives of all Americans. USDA is transforming America’s food system under the Biden-Harris Administration by focusing more on more resilient local and regional food production, ensuring access to healthy and nutritious food in all communities, creating new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers through climate, smart food, and forestry practices, and making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has extended the eviction moratorium until July 31.

The evictions moratorium has been extended until July 31 by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. “This is expected to be the final extension of the moratorium,” according to the CDC.

The last month, according to a Biden administration official, will be used for an “all hands on deck” multi-agency drive to prevent a large wave of evictions. One of the reasons for the moratorium was to try to prevent the spread of COVID-19 among people who had been placed on the streets or in shelters.

According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 6.4 million American households were behind on their rent as of the end of March. Nearly 1 million people indicated eviction was very likely in the next two months, while 1.83 million said it was somewhat likely.

The announcement of the extension on Thursday was accompanied by a flurry of eviction-related administration activity, notably from the Treasury Department and the Department of Justice. The Treasury Department has published new instructions encouraging states and local governments to expedite the disbursement of approximately $47 billion in available emergency rental assistance funds. Vanita Gupta, the Associate Attorney General, wrote an open letter to state courts around the country, urging them to pursue a number of solutions that would protect both tenants and landlords.

Unless extra actions are taken, “eviction filings are projected to overwhelm courts around the country,” according to Gupta’s letter.

The White House admitted on Wednesday that the previously extended emergency pandemic protection would have to terminate at some time. The issue is to come up with the correct kind of off-ramp to ease the transition without causing major societal disruption.

The distinct eviction restrictions for renters and mortgage holders were “always intended to be transitory,” according to White House press secretary Jen Psaki.

Hundreds of members of Congress wrote to President Joe Biden and Walensky this week, urging them to extend the moratorium and expand it in various areas.

The letter, which was organized by Democratic Reps. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, Jimmy Gomez of California, and Cori Bush of Missouri sought for an undetermined extension to allow the American Rescue Plan’s emergency rental aid to reach residents.

They claimed that immediately ending the help will disproportionately harm some of the minority groups hardest afflicted by the virus, which has killed over 600,000 people in the US. They also echoed many housing groups in urging for the moratorium’s safeguards to be made automatic, so that tenants don’t have to take any additional actions to get them.

The letter added, “The federal moratorium’s impact cannot be overstated, and the need to enhance and extend it is an urgent matter of health, racial, and economic justice.”