On Saturday, advocates for housing and the homeless gathered at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home in San Francisco, urging Pelosi to reconvene the Congress. The advocates were seeking to legislate an extension to the eviction moratorium.
The House adjourned without enacting a law that will extend the moratorium on eviction
The House adjourned for congressional recess on Friday without enacting a law that extends the nationwide ban on eviction which is about to expire on Saturday. This prompted outrage from Democrats and a protest at the U.S. Capitol overnight.
Then on Saturday, around 40 activists gathered in front of the home of Pelosi in San Francisco. They taped an “eviction notice” in front of her door to remind Pelosi that this weekend, millions of people are facing eviction while the House Speaker is sleeping comfortably in her home.
In solidarity with all people behind on rent and @CoriBush, we’re out at @SpeakerPelosi ‘s mansion delivering an “eviction” notice.
Our Congresswoman needs to convene Congress to extend the eviction moratorium. pic.twitter.com/4Hrpb0OMnZ
— Jackie Fielder (@JackieFielder_) July 31, 2021
One of the activists, Christin Evans, stated that the reason why they were outside of Pelosi’s mansion in San Francisco is to show how the House Speaker is out of touch with others who are facing eviction.
The protester also added that the homeless and housing crisis is already bad enough in San Francisco; COVID-19 made it worse as people lost their jobs and were burdened by medical emergencies.
Evans added that they basically wanted to send Pelosi a message to make a move and reconvene Congress to extend the eviction moratorium. However, it is not clear whether the House Speaker was home when the protesters gathered in front of her home. If so, she did not come out to address their concerns.
On Friday, the House adjourned for a summer recess without taking a vote on extending the moratorium. This move was made after the White House clarified on Thursday that the House will allow the ban for eviction to expire.
The White House asked Congress to take action after the Supreme Court ruling
According to the Biden administration, the decision was made in connection with a recent decision by the Supreme Court, arguing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cannot unilaterally stretch the moratorium past July 31. So, the White House asked Congress to take action “without delay.”
Pelosi added saying that she had an impression that CDC could unilaterally pass an extension of the moratorium on its own. What this means is that the House was in a hurry to look for a last-minute remedy on Friday before the Congress went to recess.
Pelosi stated on Friday that they are going to look for a solution and they are not stepping away from the issue now or later thereafter.
Good morning. The eviction moratorium expires tonight at midnight.
We could have extended it yesterday, but some Democrats went on vacation instead.
We slept at the Capitol last night to ask them to come back and do their jobs.
Today’s their last chance. We’re still here. pic.twitter.com/vnwIrAokll
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) July 31, 2021
On the other hand, the Democrat Squad members were outraged by the congressional recess. Democrat Representative Cori Bush even led the overnight protest in front of the Capitol. Bush posted a tweet saying that they could have extended the moratorium on Friday, however, some Democrat lawmakers instead went on vacation.
