Press Releases

LOS ANGELES – In response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling striking down the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) most recent eviction moratorium, Congressman Jimmy Gomez (CA-34), along with Representatives Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Cori Bush (MO-01), and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), sent a letter to Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urging them to swiftly pass legislation to extend the federal eviction moratorium – which the lawmakers helped secure earlier this month – for the duration of the pandemic.

“Millions of people who are currently at risk of eviction, housing insecurity, or face becoming unhoused desperately look to their elected representatives to implement legislation that will put their health and safety first and save lives,” wrote the lawmakers. “As your fellow colleagues, we implore you to act with the highest levels of urgency to advance a permanent legislative solution in a must pass legislative vehicle in order to extend the life-saving federal eviction moratorium for the duration of the deadly global health crisis.”
 
Late last month, with the previous eviction moratorium set to expire, Congressman Gomez stood in solidarity with his colleague Congresswoman Cori Bush on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to urge the Administration to act unilaterally to extend this protection — efforts that resulted in a new CDC eviction moratorium.

Only 51 percent of people in the United States are fully vaccinated, break-through infections are surging, and only 11 percent of the $46 million in Emergency Rental Assistance that Congress authorized to provide financial relief to renters and landlords has been distributed by states and localities. Black, Latino, Asian, and Indigenous households are more likely to report being behind on their rental payments, with nearly 600,000 seniors and nearly 20 percent of senior renters who are people of color are behind on rent. Additionally, communities with lower vaccination rates and higher COVID-19 cases tend to be the same as those with renters at heightened risk of eviction without an eviction moratorium.

Click here for a PDF of the letter.

-- In July, ahead of the expiration of the previous CDC eviction moratorium, Congressman Gomez, along with Representatives Pressley, Bush, and their progressive colleagues, sent a letter renewing their calls for President Biden and CDC Director Rochelle Walensky to extend the federal eviction moratorium and prevent the historic and deadly wave of evictions that would occur if the government failed to do so.
 
-- In June, Congressman Gomez, along with Representatives Pressley and Bush, led over 40 of their colleagues on a letter urging President Biden and CDC Director Walensky to extend and strengthen the moratorium for the duration of the public health crisis.
 
-- In March, Congressman Gomez, along with Representatives Pressley, Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and their colleagues, introduced the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act to institute a nationwide cancellation of rents and home mortgage payments through the duration of the coronavirus pandemic.
 
-- In January 2021, Congressman Gomez and Congresswoman Pressley led a letter to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris urging them to use executive action to extend and strengthen the national eviction moratorium for the duration of the pandemic.