The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) on July 30, 2021, announced an extension of its moratorium on evictions for foreclosed borrowers and their occupants through September 30, 2021, and noted the expiration of the foreclosure moratorium on July 31, 2021. This extension is part of President Biden’s announcement on July 29 that federal agencies will use their authority to extend their respective eviction moratoria through the end of September, which will provide continued protection for households living in federally-insured, single-family properties. FHA’s eviction moratorium extension will avoid displacement of foreclosed borrowers and other occupants who need more time to access suitable housing options after foreclosure.
“We must continue to do everything within our authority to make sure that foreclosed borrowers who are impacted by the pandemic have the time and resources to secure safe and stable housing, whether it’s in their current homes, or by obtaining alternative housing options,” Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing Lopa P. Kolluri said. “We don’t want to see any individuals or families displaced unnecessarily while trying to recover from the pandemic.”
With today’s announcement, mortgage servicers must continue to halt evictions for FHA Single Family Title II forward and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) foreclosed properties, except for those properties that are legally vacant or abandoned.
Mortgage servicers may initiate or continue foreclosures in accordance with FHA requirements once the Single Family foreclosure moratorium expires as planned on July 31, 2021, but may not evict a foreclosed borrower or other occupant.
The CDC eviction moratorium allowed to expire at the end of July has been reinstated provisionally “in counties with heightened levels of community transmission in order to respond to recent, unexpected developments in the trajectory of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the rise of the Delta variant.” The CDC said its extension of the eviction moratorium is intended to target specific “areas of the country where cases are rapidly increasing, which likely would be exacerbated by mass evictions.”
“Throughout the pandemic, MHI has worked with a coalition of national housing industry organizations to call for rental assistance to reach those in need and oppose a blanket federal moratorium on evictions,” the Manufactured Housing Institute said Aug. 3 in a statement on the extension. “The coalition is calling on the White House and Congress to focus on getting the nearly $50 billion that has been made available in federal Emergency Rental Assistance to those residents and housing providers in need.”
