Landlords Press Trump Administration for Pandemic Eviction Moratorium Compensation After CDC Limits

A coalition of landlords is pressing the U.S. government for compensation tied to pandemic-era eviction limits, seeking a settlement with the Trump administration after years of litigation.

“Landlords want to be paid for pandemic losses and hope to reach a deal with the Trump administration Landlords want to be paid for pandemic losses and hope to reach a deal with the Trump administration BOSTON (AP) — Just months into the pandemic, Matthew Haines, like landlords across the country, learned he was barred from evicting tenants who didn’t pay their rent under a federal eviction moratorium that lasted almost a year — costing him and his investors over $1 million”

Associated Press

The case centers on a federal eviction moratorium enacted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that barred landlords from evicting tenants who didn’t pay their rent, a restriction that lasted almost a year.

Associated Press

Matthew Haines, a 57-year-old Texan, said the moratorium “lasted almost a year — costing him and his investors over $1 million.”

Haines is among more than 1,500 property owners who filed a federal lawsuit arguing the moratorium violated the Fifth Amendment by unlawfully denying them compensation.

The plaintiffs’ losses range from those who “lost thousands of dollars” to one who “lost over $14.5 million,” according to the Associated Press account.

After initially losing in the Court of Federal Claims in 2022, the plaintiffs “won on appeal and are now in settlement discussions with the Justice Department,” AP reported.

Landlords are hoping to recoup as much as $1.5 billion, described as “a fraction of what the industry lost,” while the Justice Department said it “does not comment on ongoing litigation.”

The landlords’ argument is anchored to the federal moratorium’s duration and the constitutional claim that it deprived owners of compensation without proper authority.

The Associated Press reported that the federal eviction moratorium “lasted from September 2020 through July 2021,” and that it was “among the pandemic’s most divisive policies.”

Chattanooga Times Free Press

AP said the moratorium ended after the Supreme Court ruled the CDC “lacked authority to impose the ban without congressional authorization.”

In the landlords’ framing, the policy’s breadth and the resulting inability to collect rent translated into financial harm that they say should have been borne by the government.

AP described how landlords said the moratorium “devastated their businesses,” with owners unable to collect rent and forced to “take on debt, lay off staff, delay repairs and, in some cases, sell their property.”

The Week’s AP-based account added that the moratorium and eviction backlog cost owners “$57 billion, according to the lawsuit,” and that there were “more than 10 million delinquent renters in just the ban’s first four months.”

The plaintiffs’ legal posture also includes the Fifth Amendment theory, with Creighton Magid, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, arguing, “Public health measures like this, they may be well intentioned.”

While landlords seek compensation, tenant advocates argue eviction bans were necessary to prevent homelessness and reduce transmission risk during the pandemic.

“FLE - A line of Spirit Airlines jets sit on the tarmac at the Orlando International Airport on May 20, 2020, in Orlando, Fla”

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The Associated Press account said tenant advocates “counter that eviction bans were a lifesaver,” crediting them with “keeping millions of tenants housed during the pandemic and slowing the spread of the coronavirus.”

The same AP report said advocates also argue landlords were “already paid — in the form of tens of billions of dollars in rental assistance.”

Against that backdrop, Haines described his own experience as the moratorium took hold, saying, “It was terrifying,” and that “We knew almost immediately that we were going to be a massive deficit in cash flow that we probably weren’t going to be able to cover.”

AP reported that Haines said he tried to manage the crisis early by being flexible with tenants, noting, “Many tenants lost their jobs, so he didn’t require new leases and tried to be flexible with those who couldn’t pay.”

The lawsuit also includes Liz Leone, who AP said has “52 apartments in Las Vegas” and is part of the lawsuit, describing how the moratorium “almost forced her out of business.”

Leone said she “lost over $250,000” and borrowed “$60,000 from the federal Small Business Administration “just to keep my nose above water.”

The landlords’ push for a settlement is framed as a path to financial recovery after appellate success, with the Justice Department positioned as a key counterpart in discussions.

The Week’s AP-based report said the plaintiffs “won on appeal and are now in settlement discussions with the Justice Department,” and it described landlords as hoping to “reach a deal with the Trump administration.”

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It also reported that the Justice Department, when responding to Associated Press questions, said it “does not comment on ongoing litigation.”

Haines’ statements emphasized both vindication and investor recovery, telling AP, “It’s important for us to stand up when a group like the CDC unilaterally, functionally, decides that they have a right to oversee our business.”

He added, “What I hope that we will accomplish and, to some extent, we already have, is vindication for ourselves,” and said, “But what’s more important to me is that hopefully my investors will recover some of that money that they should have had coming in over the last six years.”

The report also described the moratorium’s divisiveness and the broader landscape of state and local measures that extended beyond the federal ban.

AP said moratoriums were imposed in “43 states and scores of cities,” and that these lasted longer because “states and cities have broader regulatory powers than federal agencies like the CDC.”

The dispute over eviction moratoriums is now focused on the financial consequences landlords say they absorbed and the policy tradeoffs tenant advocates say the bans prevented.

“Boston, May 3 (AP) Just months into the pandemic, Matthew Haines, like landlords across the country, learned he was barred from evicting tenants who didn't pay their rent under a federal eviction moratorium that lasted almost a year — costing him and his investors over USD 1 million”

The Week

The Associated Press report said landlords are hoping to recoup as much as $1.5 billion, “a fraction of what the industry lost,” while the lawsuit asserts a larger figure of $57 billion in costs tied to the moratorium and eviction backlog.

Associated Press

It also said the National Rental Home Council survey, published weeks after the federal moratorium ended, found that “half of small landlords had tenants who missed rent and a third sold or planned to sell properties.”

Landlords’ narrative emphasizes that the moratorium’s effects continued after the ban ended, including “longer delays for evictions” and “tighter screening for riskier tenants.”

Tenant advocates, by contrast, maintain that eviction bans prevented homelessness and that eviction bans “were a powerful intervention to keep people in their homes,” as housing advocates said in the AP account.

The report also notes that advocates credit rental assistance, arguing landlords were “already paid — in the form of tens of billions of dollars in rental assistance.”

In the middle of these competing claims, the immediate next step described in the sources is settlement discussions with the Justice Department, following appellate victory in the Court of Federal Claims.