The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the eviction moratorium imposed last year through executive action can remain in place despite the fervent protestations of a coalition of realtors and developers who brought the case forward, the New York Times reported.

At the start of the pandemic, Congress announced a general moratorium on evictions that went on through July 2020; at that point, however, the White House, through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, implemented a series of other bans that were set to expire at the end of this month. The plaintiffs argued that the CDC overstepped its authority on this point, saying it was more an economic policy than a disease control measure.

While the high court did not provide an official reason behind its 5-4 decision, Justice Bret Kavanaugh, in a concurring opinion, did not dispute the plaintiffs' arguments, agreeing that the CDC did indeed overstep its authority. But he noted that the horse has been out of the barn for quite a while now and that there would be little point in ending the moratorium just weeks before it was set to expire. He said that a more orderly end to the moratorium would be preferable to an abrupt cancellation imposed by the court. But he did say that the CDC should not be able to extend this moratorium without congressional action.

It is estimated that, nationwide, between 5.7 million and 6 million people owe back rent, some substantially. California recently made headlines when the governor announced that the state would pay all back rents using $5.2 billion it got from the federal government. New York has a smaller program in place, and applications for the state to cover residents' back rent opened in June, though there are questions as to whether the $2.5 billion allocated for the program, which only covers 12 months worth of rent, will be enough for struggling tenants.