Eviction Moratoriums in the US: History and Tenant Impact
Eviction moratoriums are temporary government-imposed halts or restrictions on residential eviction proceedings, used as emergency interventions during public health crises, economic shocks, or declared disasters. This page covers the definition, legal mechanisms, historical deployment, and documented tenant impacts of eviction moratoriums across federal, state, and local jurisdictions in the United States. The scope spans the major moratorium periods from 1918 through the COVID-19 era, with attention to the regulatory frameworks that governed each. Understanding this landscape is essential for tenants, housing professionals, and researchers working within the tenant services sector.
Definition and scope
An eviction moratorium is a legal instrument that suspends, delays, or limits a landlord's ability to initiate or complete eviction proceedings against a tenant for a defined period. Moratoriums do not cancel rent obligations in most cases — they defer enforcement of nonpayment consequences without extinguishing the underlying debt.
The scope of a moratorium is defined by four variables:
- Triggering authority — federal statute, executive order, state emergency declaration, or local ordinance
- Covered tenant class — all renters, income-qualified renters, or only those meeting specific hardship criteria
- Covered eviction type — nonpayment-only, holdover tenancies, lease violations, or all causes
- Duration — fixed end date or tied to the continuation of an emergency declaration
Federal moratoriums apply nationally but require congressional authorization or executive authority. State moratoriums supersede local ones only where state preemption statutes exist. Local moratoriums — enacted by city councils or county boards — may apply stricter protections than state law permits. This layered structure is a defining characteristic of US housing law as catalogued by the National Housing Law Project.
How it works
A moratorium functions by suspending one or more phases of the eviction process. In US jurisdictions, a standard eviction proceeding follows a predictable sequence:
- Notice issuance — landlord delivers a pay-or-quit, cure-or-quit, or unconditional quit notice
- Filing — landlord files an unlawful detainer or summary possession action in housing court
- Hearing — court schedules a hearing, both parties appear
- Judgment — court issues a writ of possession if landlord prevails
- Enforcement — local sheriff or marshal executes the physical removal
A moratorium may halt any one or all of these steps. The CDC's 2020 order, issued under 42 U.S.C. § 264(a), targeted step 1 and step 2 — it prohibited landlords from filing new eviction cases based on nonpayment where tenants submitted a qualifying declaration of hardship (CDC Order, September 4, 2020). It did not cancel accrued rent debt.
Tenant eligibility under the CDC framework required self-certification across five criteria, including earning below $99,000 annually (or $198,000 for joint filers), having made best efforts to obtain rental assistance, and being likely to become homeless if evicted. The enforcement mechanism was a federal criminal provision — landlords who violated the order faced penalties under 42 U.S.C. § 271, which carries fines up to $500,000 and potential imprisonment.
State-level moratoriums used different enforcement mechanisms: automatic court dismissal of eviction filings, administrative holds issued by housing agencies, or suspension of sheriff enforcement. California's AB 3088 (2020) and subsequent SB 91 (2021) created a tiered structure distinguishing between tenants who paid at least 25% of rent owed during the protected period and those who paid nothing — assigning different liability exposure for each group (California Legislative Information).
Common scenarios
Three distinct deployment contexts characterize the historical use of eviction moratoriums in the United States.
Pandemic-triggered moratoriums (2020–2021): The broadest moratoriums in US history operated during the COVID-19 emergency. At peak coverage in mid-2020, 43 states had active eviction restrictions of some type, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. The federal CDC order ran from September 2020 until the Supreme Court vacated it in Alabama Association of Realtors v. HHS, 594 U.S. ___ (2021), finding the agency lacked statutory authority for a nationwide rent-enforcement suspension of that scope.
Disaster-triggered moratoriums: FEMA-coordinated disaster declarations have historically prompted state governors to impose short-duration eviction pauses — typically 30 to 90 days — following hurricanes, floods, or wildfires. These apply to affected counties or zip codes and are governed by state emergency management statutes rather than federal housing law.
Localized economic interventions: Cities including Los Angeles, New York, and Seattle enacted moratoriums tied to local economic emergencies predating COVID-19. The City of Los Angeles maintained a COVID-era eviction moratorium into 2023 for certain tenant classes under LA Municipal Code § 49.99, longer than most jurisdictions, creating a notable contrast with California's statewide rollback timeline.
Federal vs. state moratoriums — key contrast:
| Dimension | Federal (CDC, 2020) | State (e.g., California SB 91) |
|---|---|---|
| Trigger authority | Executive/agency order | Legislative statute |
| Coverage scope | National | Statewide |
| Enforcement mechanism | Federal criminal penalties | State court administrative process |
| Rent debt treatment | Debt preserved | Partial forgiveness via rental assistance |
| Termination mechanism | Court vacatur | Sunset clause |
Decision boundaries
Several threshold questions determine whether a moratorium applies to a given tenancy or proceeding. Housing court professionals and tenant advocates using tenant providers and related resources encounter these boundaries in active caseloads.
Cause of eviction: Most moratoriums covered nonpayment only. A landlord evicting for lease violations unrelated to rent — property damage, criminal activity, or unauthorized occupants — often retained the right to proceed even during an active moratorium. The CDC order explicitly excluded evictions not based on nonpayment.
Property type: Single-family homes sold to buyers intending owner-occupancy, properties already in foreclosure, and short-term rental units were frequently excluded from moratorium coverage. HUD-assisted properties operated under separate guidance from HUD Office of Housing, which issued its own suspension notices during the COVID-19 period.
Tenant declaration requirements: Where self-certification was required (as under the CDC framework), a tenant's failure to submit the declaration in writing before receiving a notice removed the moratorium's protection. Courts treated the declaration as a jurisdictional prerequisite in cases where landlords challenged tenant compliance.
Post-moratorium transition periods: Several states enacted "cliff prevention" statutes that phased out protections rather than ending them abruptly. Minnesota's COVID-19 framework included a structured wind-down under Minn. Stat. § 504B.285, requiring landlords to provide extended notice before filing following the emergency period.
For a broader orientation to how tenant protections are structured as a service sector, see how to use this tenant resource.