The federal deportation ban will end on June 30, but some states plan to maintain local bans longer.

Millions of Americans lost their jobs or saw their incomes drop during the pandemic, causing them to fall behind on their mortgage and rent payments. For homeowners, mortgage forbearance has spared countless borrowers from credit damage and even foreclosure. Meanwhile, tenants have been granted protection against the federal eviction ban.

The bad news is that the federal moratorium on evictions is due to expire on June 30. And given how the pandemic has turned, the chances of it continuing again are slim. The good news, however, is that some states are considering maintaining deportation bans beyond the end of June.

Prevent a generalized crisis

Although the unemployment rate in the United States is much lower today than it was when the pandemic first hit, many people have yet to re-enter the workforce. As such, millions of Americans could be deported once the federal moratorium is exhausted. Not only could this create a greater homelessness crisis, but it could actually fuel the spread of COVID-19 at a time when the country finally appears to be making strides in combating it.

Fortunately, there are already a handful of states planning to maintain deportation bans after June 30. New York has extended its moratorium until September for tenants who have been affected by COVID-19 or for people whose health could be at risk if they did. move. New Jersey, meanwhile, will not allow evictions until its state of emergency is lifted. That hasn’t happened yet, so Garden State tenants should be protected until at least early August.

In Vermont, tenants are granted a reprieve on the eviction front until mid-July. Finally, in Oregon, tenants cannot be evicted for rent due between April 2020 and June 2021, and they have until the end of February to reconcile their landlords. So while Oregon’s eviction ban expires at the same time as the federal eviction ban, many tenants will, in practice, have much more time to pay off their overdue rent before they go. forced to leave the street.

But renters in other states aren’t necessarily unlucky, either. Any landlord who has received money from the $ 45 billion rent assistance pot (which the last two stimulus bills allowed) cannot evict a tenant for unpaid rent received from the funds from the renter. State. And in some cases, they also cannot carry out an eviction for 30 to 90 days afterwards.

As such, while ending the federal eviction ban may prove problematic for many tenants, some people will benefit from a stay, at least for now. During this time, anyone threatened with deportation due to the expiration of the ban can seek low cost or free legal assistance at Lawhelp.org. This is a much better option than doing nothing and waiting to be evicted from a rental home.