A three-judge U.S. appeals court ruled Wednesday that the nationwide moratorium on evictions enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention due to the COVID-19 pandemic can stay in effect.
A federal judge ruled last month that the eviction moratorium exceeded the CDC's authority. The government appealed and the judge put a temporary stay on the order.
The stay was upheld Wednesday as the appeals court wrote that the government's case made a "strong showing that it is likely to succeed on the merits" of the appeal, Reuters reported.
The moratorium is set to expire on June 30 and will cover renters who were expecting that they would earn below $99,000 per year, which would be $198,000 for those filing taxes jointly. It also covers those who did not report any income, or those who qualified for and received stimulus checks.
The eviction ban, initially put in place last year, provides protection for renters out of concern that having families lose their homes and move into shelters or share crowded conditions with relatives or friends during the pandemic would further spread the highly contagious virus.
Proponents of the ban argue it is necessary since the pandemic is still a threat and so many people are at risk of eviction or foreclosure. Nearly 4 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction or foreclosure in the next two months, according to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey.
Opponents of the moratorium, including the National Association of Realtors, welcomed the judge's initial ruling and said the solution was rental assistance, not a ban on evictions.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.