Since Biden was recently inaugurated as president, his presidency and the actions he has pursued have been nothing short of eventful. Just hours after taking office, Biden signed 17 executive orders to dismantle the Trump administration’s policies and mitigate the harm caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. One such executive order was a directive to the CDC to extend the nationwide ban on evictions through March 2021. The executive order also extends a foreclosure moratorium on government-backed mortgages, which has offered relief to millions of Americans currently struggling to pay rent. While the eviction moratorium has been tremendously successful until now, some people are suggesting that it is not going far enough. Proponents of the policy believe that the eviction ban should remain in effect after the pandemic is over.

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed that rent is a tremendous problem for people who unexpectedly lose their job or face unforeseen expenses. These same people should not be immediately punished with the possibility of being evicted from their homes, which can ruin their lives and prevent them from ever getting a chance to go back to work. Therefore, it is reasonable to suggest that the moratorium should remain in place even after the pandemic is over.

Long before COVID-19, millions of Americans have faced the risk of eviction every year. Wage growth for middle-class Americans has stagnated while rising housing costs and sudden medical bills have resulted in many Americans going bankrupt. This has predictably caused more than 20 million households to be “rent-burdened” in 2019, meaning that they pay more than 30% of their income towards rent. With rent prices on the rise, most tenants– who are disproportionately people of color– live below the poverty line. Around 4 in 10 Americans also do not have enough cash in hand to pay an unexpected $400 expense. With no safety net, this means that tenants can be evicted merely four weeks after being notified by their landlord.

Biden’s eviction moratorium will not relieve people of the obligation to pay money to own a house. However, it can help low-income tenants put in their best effort to pay at least partial rent. It also provides relief to people seeking rental assistance or who have no viable housing options. In other words, the eviction moratorium is an immense safety net for families struggling with paying rent amidst extenuating circumstances. Therefore, any tenant experiencing a sudden loss of their job or extraordinary medical expenses should be given relief for the duration of the pandemic and beyond.