Confusion Over Eviction Ban Led To Selective Enforcement

Yochebed Israel was the kind of person Congress had in mind when it voted in March to impose a temporary moratorium on many evictions as the coronavirus spread.

First, the furnace in her Tampa, Florida, apartment broke and her electric bill rose above $460 a month for five months. She fell behind on rent, forced to choose between keeping the lights on or paying the landlord.

Then she contracted COVID-19 in April, she said, missing two months of work without full sick pay as a certified nursing assistant at a long-term care center.