On August 26th, the U.S. Supreme Court issued an opinion lifting the CDC moratorium that had recently been extended to October 3rd. The Supreme Court reasoned that the CDC lacked authority to issue the moratorium, and any further extension or similar rule would have to be enacted by Congress. Legal challenge of the CDC moratorium was led by the Alabama and Georgia Associations of REALTORS® with assistance from the National Association of REALTORS®.
The decision means that Massachusetts courts will now be able to issue final execution orders in eviction cases regardless of COVID-19 impacts. However, eviction cases for tenants with pending rental assistance applications will continue to be paused until applications are resolved.
Eviction filings remain at low levels because Massachusetts is a national leader in distributing rental assistance funds through the Eviction Diversion Initiative. MAR will continue its advocacy on this issue and provide further updates should policies continue to change.