Normally, these updates will come to you in a format more like our weekly updates, with a listing and digest of some of the events that have gone on during the month. This month, I would like to follow the format of the previous. Many things have transpired in the world of rental housing and the government since I last wrote.
VAMA had been in productive talks with the Northam Administration, moving along to an acceptable compromise on eviction policy that would have put all parties into consensus. Things that we fought for included: making sure that those who fell under a moratorium had experienced a financial hardship due to COVID, protecting broader communities by ensuring that tenants in breach other than payment would not be able to use this moratorium, and making a smoother, shorter road to rent relief for housing providers. This had been brought mostly to conclusion when the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium came down from the Trump Administration.
This order, written by acting CDC Director Nina Witkofsky, is…a creative piece of policy writing. It works through a self-serving signed statement from a resident, which asserts that they have met six criteria to qualify under the eviction moratorium. From the time of receipt of that statement until December 31, 2020, a landlord who has received it cannot take any action to recover possession of the property for nonpayment of rent. There is still much analysis to do on this order, as it establishes a number of subjective criteria that must be further defined by the courts. One such subjective hurdle is that the order does not apply to any state where evictions protections are stricter than the order. While nothing is completely certain as I write this, I suspect that Virginia’s government will seek to avoid the complex questions that follow this order by instituting stricter policy.
Thus, the compromise that VAMA and other stakeholders had reached with the Administration is likely broken. The CDC order has drawn legal challenge already, as likely will any action by Governor Northam to go farther, whether that challenge be from VAMA or another entity. VAMA is continuing to fight evictions moratoria wherever they appear, and we will be working with and communicating to members about what new policy changes mean for us as soon as those changes are definite.
As ever, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions on this. Thanks for all you’re doing to protect your residents, your employees, and your properties.
Best Regards,
Tommy Herbert
VAMA Manager of Government Affairs
tommy@vamaonline.org