The Biden administration announced late last week that it would extend the nationwide eviction moratorium one more month, through July 31. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it intends this to be the last such extension.

The moratoriums and other protections during the pandemic haven't been perfect, but "they undeniably had a massive effect on preventing eviction filings," said Peter Hepburn, a research fellow at the Eviction Lab and assistant professor of sociology at Rutgers University-Newark. "Nationwide, we estimate that over 2.2 million eviction cases were prevented since March 15th of last year."

Prior to the pandemic, seven evictions were filed every minute, totaling 3.7 million cases filed across the country in 2016, according to the Eviction Lab. Those filings were when the economy was considered to be "in good shape," Hepburn said.

Congress approved $25 billion in December for rent relief, followed by another $21 billion allocated in March. But the majority of those federal funds have not yet been distributed, as many state and local governments don’t have the necessary structures and staff in place to properly manage the influx of funds.

Those plans also encourage partnership with the courts. The courts are a key government stakeholder to help with these processes, Erika Rickard, a project director with the Pew Charitable Trusts, told Smart Cities Dive in an interview. Courts are where the highest-need populations are showing up, she said.

The latest eviction moratorium has helped provide a "little more breathing room" for these efforts, according to Rickard. "There's a little bit of extra time and renewed emphasis on that need to collaborate, on the need to adapt some of the best practices or lessons that have been learned from other communities, and be able to apply them in more cities," she said.

Read the full article about the final U.S. eviction moratorium by Cailin Crowe at Smart Cities Dive.