US authorities scramble, trade blame as millions face eviction

Eviction protections expired Sunday for millions of Americans who could face homelessness within days, triggering a scramble to unlock billions in stalled rental aid and recriminations in Washington.

Renters had been shielded from eviction for nearly a year as part of a government moratorium intended to keep people in their houses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But lawmakers have failed to extend those expiring protections and only $3 billion in aid has reached households out of the $25 billion allotted to states and localities in early February.

"We should be compassionate. We should help. And if that money is there, we should use it for its intended purpose," Democratic Senator Joe Manchin told CNN.

Over a quarter of renters are behind in some states, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities think-tank.

Southern states are some of the worst affected, though some 16 percent of US households owed rent -- about double the amount before the pandemic.

The protections lapsed at midnight on Saturday, two days after the White House announced it would not be legally able to renew the moratorium.

Republicans balked at Democratic efforts to extend the freeze through mid-October, and the House of Representatives adjourned for its summer vacation Friday without renewing it.

But Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez laid blame on President Joe Biden's administration for waiting until the last minute to ask Congress to act -- saying it could have done so weeks earlier.

She added it would be unfair to turf people out when billions in aid have not been spent -- a total of 46 billion has been approved by Congress -- and called for an immediate vote to extend the moratorium.

"We cannot kick people out of their homes when our end of the bargain has not been fulfilled," she told CNN.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior Democratic leaders also urged Biden to extend the moratorium in a Sunday statement.

"Doing so is a moral imperative to keep people from being put out on the street which also contributes to the public health emergency," they said.