Was anyone surprised to see yet another extension of the eviction moratorium?

This time it comes via a different avenue, but it again delays the inevitable and hurts local landlords, who may be just hanging on financially at this point.

Many landlords could be compared to small local business owners. They’ve worked hard to acquire and repair properties before leasing them to make a slim profit.

These “mom-and-pop” landlords of Butler County aren’t so easily able to handle missed payment after payment from their tenants. They too have bills to pay.

The latest moratorium on evictions came Tuesday from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, preventing eviction for nonpayment of rent in U.S. counties with “substantial” or “high” levels of COVID-19 transmission.

A county receives the “substantial” designation by recording more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days and by having an 8% or higher positive test rate during the past seven days.

Butler County narrowly entered this range Monday with 56.43 new cases per 100,000 residents, thus triggering the CDC’s regulation that was announced Tuesday.

The CDC’s order is in effect through Oct. 3, unless Butler County’s new cases per 100,000 residents drop back below the substantial designation for 14 consecutive days.

With the delta variant of COVID-19 out in full force, however, let’s not pretend that this will drop anytime soon. The relief that small local landlords need isn’t coming in a timely manner.

Really, at a year and a half into this, we think it’s safe to say that COVID-19 isn’t going away. We can’t put life on hold for this virus. We can’t put business on hold. It’s possible to proceed with both while taking precautions that prevent the spread of COVID-19.

It’s worth noting that Pennsylvania earlier this year received about $570 million from the federal government to establish an emergency rental assistance program, or ERAP.

According to the U.S. Treasury, however, only $79.9 million of those funds were used to pay rent, back rent and utilities, assisting some 18,500 households in Pennsylvania by June 30.

Butler County received $12.3 million in ERAP funds, according to a recent Eagle article.

We point this out to show that assistance was indeed available to those in need. An opportunity was available for tenants to square up with their landlords. If they didn’t use that federal assistance, it’s unfortunate, but not something that the landlord should be penalized for.

So, seriously, let’s take our precautions. But it’s ridiculous, and can be downright detrimental, to local landlords to keep delaying evictions.

— TAL