When former President Donald Trump directed the HHS Secretary and CDC Director to consider halting residential evictions in August 2020 and the CDC followed the next month with its “Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions To Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19” order (pdf), it made perfect sense. The order prevents landlords from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent if they have been economically hurt by the pandemic and make less than $99,000 per year. The loss of millions of U.S. jobs, almost overnight, threatened to increase evictions, homelessness, and the spread of COVID-19. But a year later, the CDC order has been extended twice and is now due to expire on June 30. Landlords and property owners are speaking out about the hardships the CDC order has created. According to the Urban Institute, pandemic-related unpaid rent in the United States ranges from $8 billion to as much as $53 billion. …