Amicus Curiae Brief — Alabama Association of Realtors, et al., Applicants v. Department of Health and Human Services, et al.
Supreme Court briefJun 28, 2021
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No. 20A169
IN THE
Supreme Court of the United States
ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, et al.,
APPLICANTS,
V.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, et al.,
RESPONDENTS.
MOTION FOR LEAVE TO FILE AND BRIEF FOR THE AMERICAN
ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS; AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION;
CHILDREN’S HEALTHWATCH; GLMA: HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY; MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT
OF COLUMBIA; NATIONAL HISPANIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION;
NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; NORTH CAROLINA PEDIATRIC
SOCIETY; EMILY A. BENFER; KIM M. BLANKENSHIP; KATHERINE L.
CHEN; MATTHEW DESMOND; GREGG GONSALVES; PETER
HEPBURN; DANYA E. KEENE; KATHRYN M. LEIFHEIT; MICHAEL Z.
LEVY; SABRIYA A. LINTON; WENDY PARMET; CRAIG E.
POLLACK; JULIA RAIFMAN; AND DAVID VLAHOV AS AMICI CURIAE IN
OPPOSITION TO THE EMERGENCY APPLICATION TO VACATE THE
STAY
EMILY A. BENFER
Visiting Professor of Law
J.L. POTTENGER, JR.
Nathan Baker Clinical
Professor of Law
Wake Forest University School
of Law
1834 Wake Forest Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
(336) 758-5430
benfere@wfu.edu
Jerome N. Frank Legal Services
Organization
Yale Law School
127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-4800
j.pottenger@ylsclinics.org
The American Academy of Pediatrics; American Medical Association; Children’s Healthwatch; GLMA: Health Professionals Advancing LGBTQ Equality; Medical Society of the District of Columbia; National Hispanic Medical Association; National Medical Association; North Carolina Pediatric Society; Emily A. Benfer; Kim
M. Blankenship; Katherine L. Chen; Matthew Desmond; Gregg Gonsalves; Peter
Hepburn; Danya E. Keene; Kathryn M. Leifheit; Michael Z. Levy; Sabriya A. Linton;
Wendy Parmet; Craig E. Pollack; Julia Raifman; and David Vlahov (collectively, the
“amici”) move for leave to file the enclosed brief as amici curiae in support of respondents and in opposition to the application to vacate the stay (1) without 10 days’ notice
to the parties of amici’s intent to file as ordinarily required by Sup. Ct. R. 37.2(a), and
(2) in an unbound format on 8½-by-11-inch paper rather than in booklet form.
The respondents extended the effect of the CDC order in question in this case
until July 31 on June 24. In light of this action, the Court’s ruling on this motion
could have profound impacts on the health of millions of Americans. Amici are leading
experts who study how housing and eviction in particular affect health. Due to this
recent action, ten days’ notice to parties was infeasible. In addition, the compressed
time frame prevented the amici from having the brief finalized in sufficient time to
allow it to be printed and filed in booklet form. This larger format also allows for the
fuller display of figures demonstrating how evictions spread COVID-19, and recent
research on the lower rates of vaccination among Americans most at risk for being
evicted. When contacted, applicants did not consent; and respondents took no position
as to this brief’s filing.
ii
As set forth in the enclosed brief, the undersigned amici are the nation’s leading experts in the health effects of the outcome of this application to vacate the district court’s stay. Specifically, the amici have a critical interest in avoiding the instantaneous dissolution of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19 (“CDC
Order”), which would precipitate an unprecedented wave of evictions and threaten
substantial harm to individuals, communities, and the public health during a continued pandemic.
Conclusion
This Court should grant amici curiae leave to file the enclosed brief.
Respectfully submitted,
EMILY A. BENFER
Visiting Professor of Law
Wake Forest University School
of Law
1834 Wake Forest Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
(336) 758-5430
benfere@wfu.edu
June 2021
iii
/s/ J.L. Pottenger, Jr.
J.L. POTTENGER, JR.
Nathan Baker Clinical
Professor of Law
Counsel of Record
Jerome N. Frank Legal Services
Organization
Yale Law School
127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-4800
j.pottenger@ylsclinics.org
On behalf of:
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS
DANYA E. KEENE
Associate Professor of Public Health
Yale University
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
CHILDREN’S HEALTHWATCH
KATHRYN M. LEIFHEIT
Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Health
and Epidemiology
University of California – Los Angeles
GLMA: HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
MICHAEL Z. LEVY
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
University of Pennsylvania
NATIONAL HISPANIC MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION
SABRIYA A. LINTON
Assistant Professor of Mental Health
Johns Hopkins University
NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
NORTH CAROLINA PEDIATRIC SOCIETY
KIM M. BLANKENSHIP
Professor of Sociology
American University
WENDY PARMET
Matthews Distinguished University
Professor of Law & Professor of
Public Policy and Urban Affairs
Northeastern University
KATHERINE L. CHEN
National Clinician Scholars Program
Fellow
University of California – Los
Angeles
CRAIG E. POLLACK
Katey Ayres Endowed Associate
Professor of Public Health, Nursing,
and Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
MATTHEW DESMOND
Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology
Princeton University
JULIA RAIFMAN
Assistant Professor of Health Law,
Policy, & Management
Boston University
GREGG GONSALVES
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology of
Microbial Diseases
Yale University
DAVID VLAHOV
Professor of Nursing & Professor of
Epidemiology and Microbial Diseases
Yale University
PETER HEPBURN
Assistant Professor of Sociology and
Anthropology
Rutgers University
iv
No. 20A169
IN THE
Supreme Court of the United States
ALABAMA ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS, et al.,
APPLICANTS,
V.
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, et al.,
RESPONDENTS.
BRIEF FOR THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS; AMERICAN
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; CHILDREN’S HEALTHWATCH; GLMA:
HEALTH PROFESSIONALS ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY; MEDICAL
SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA; NATIONAL HISPANIC
MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; NORTH
CAROLINA PEDIATRIC SOCIETY; EMILY A. BENFER; KIM M.
BLANKENSHIP; KATHERINE L. CHEN; MATTHEW DESMOND; GREGG
GONSALVES; PETER HEPBURN; DANYA E. KEENE; KATHRYN M.
LEIFHEIT; MICHAEL Z. LEVY; SABRIYA A. LINTON; WENDY PARMET;
CRAIG E. POLLACK; JULIA RAIFMAN; AND DAVID VLAHOV AS AMICI
CURIAE IN OPPOSITION TO THE EMERGENCY APPLICATION TO VACATE THE STAY
EMILY A. BENFER
Visiting Professor of Law
J.L. POTTENGER, JR.
Nathan Baker Clinical
Professor of Law
Counsel of Record
Wake Forest University School
of Law
1834 Wake Forest Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
(336) 758-5430
benfere@wfu.edu
Jerome N. Frank Legal Services
Organization
Yale Law School
127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-4800
j.pottenger@ylsclinics.org
v
TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION AND INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE ..................................... 1
ARGUMENT .................................................................................................................. 2
I.
Mass Evictions Are Likely Nationwide Without the CDC Order ................ 2
A. The COVID-19 Pandemic Significantly Increased Housing Insecurity ..... 2
B. Without Legal Protections from Eviction, Filing Rates Increase ............... 3
II.
Eviction Moratoriums Slow the Spread of COVID-19 and Prevent
Negative Short- and Long-Term Health Outcomes .................................... 6
A. Evictions Spread COVID-19, Thwarting Efforts to Contain the Virus ...... 6
B. Eviction Increases the Rate of COVID-19 Among High-Risk Populations,
Leading to Long-Term Complications or Death ........................................ 10
C. Studies Suggest Eviction Moratoriums Prevent COVID-19 Deaths ........ 14
D. Evictions Are Concentrated in Neighborhoods with the Lowest
Vaccination Rates And Slowest Economic Recoveries .............................. 16
III.
Eviction and COVID-19 Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Groups 19
A. Evictions Disparately Affect Groups Based on Race, Gender, and Sexual
Orientation .................................................................................................. 19
B. COVID-19 Has Killed Black, Indigenous, and Latinx People at Higher
Rates ............................................................................................................ 21
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................ 22
vi
TABLE OF AUTHORITIES
Other Authorities
500 US COVID-19 Deaths, Explained in 8 Charts and Maps, VOX (Feb. 16, 2021),
https://bit.ly/3xpcqWW .............................................................................................. 21
Abhishek Bakuli et al., Effects of Pathogen Dependency in a Multi-Pathogen
Infectious Disease System Including Population Level Heterogeneity—A
Simulation Study, 14 THEORETICAL BIOLOGY & MED. MODELLING 1 (2017) ............ 7
Alexandra B. Collins et al., Surviving the Housing Crisis: Social Violence and the
Production of Evictions Among Women Who Use Drugs In Vancouver, Canada, 51
HEALTH & PLACE 174 (2018). .................................................................................... 12
AM. ACAD. OF PEDIATRICS, Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report (May
20, 2021). ................................................................................................................... 19
AM. ACAD. OF PEDIATRICS, Providing Care for Children and Adolescents Facing
Homelessness and Housing Insecurity, 131 PEDIATRICS 1206 (2013),
https://bit.ly/3dbi0CT .......................................................................................... 13, 14
Amy Harmon & Josh Holder, They Haven’t Gotten a Covid Vaccine Yet. But They
Aren’t ‘Hesitant’ Either, N.Y. TIMES (May 12, 2021). ........................................ 17, 18
Andreas Pilarinos et al., The Association Between Residential Eviction and Syringe
Sharing Among a Prospective Cohort of Street-Involved Youth, 14 HARM
REDUCTION J. 1, 3 (2017)........................................................................................... 12
Andrew R. Zolopa et al., HIV and Tuberculosis Infection in San Francisco's
Homeless Adults: Prevalence and Risk Factors in a Representative Sample, 272
JAMA 455 (1994) ......................................................................................................... 7
vii
Anjalika Nande, Justin Sheen, Emma L. Walters, Brennan Klein, Matteo Chinazzi,
Andrei H. Gheorghe, Ben Adlam, Julianna Shinnick, Maria Florencia Tejeda,
Samuel V. Scarpino, Alessandro Vespignani, Andrew J. Greenlee, Daniel
Schneider, Michael Z. Levy & Alison L. Hill, The Effect of Eviction Moratoria on
the Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, 12 NATURE COMM’NS 2274 (2021),
https://go.nature.com/3esNYLV ......................................................................... 10, 16
B.L. Gleason et al., Geospatial Analysis of Household Spread of Ebola Virus in
Quarantined Village—Sierra Leone, 2014, 145 EPIDEMIOLOGY & INFECTION 2921
(2017) ........................................................................................................................... 7
Benjamin F. Teresa, RVA Eviction Lab, The Geography of Eviction in Richmond:
Beyond Poverty (2017), https://bit.ly/3iFEmxu ........................................................ 20
Brad Sears, Kerith J. Conron & Andrew R. Flores, The Impact of the Fall 2020
COVID-19 Surge on LGBT Adults in the US, UCLA SCH. L. WILLIAMS INST. (Feb.
2021), bit.ly/2QgjiWd ................................................................................................ 20
C. Andrew Aligne, Overcrowding and Mortality During the Influenza Pandemic of
1918: Evidence from U.S. Army Camp A.A. Humphreys, Virginia, 106 AM. J. PUB.
HEALTH 642 (2016) ...................................................................................................... 8
CDC Eviction Moratorium – Initial Analysis, NLIHC (Sept. 4,
2020), https://bit.ly/2GFrn1C ..................................................................................... 5
Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136,
§ 4024, 134 Stat. 281, 491 (2020). .............................................................................. 5
viii
COVID-19 Hospitalization and Death by Race/Ethnicity, CTRS. FOR DISEASE
CONTROL & PREV. (Apr. 16, 2021), https://bit.ly/3mYlSeu. ..................................... 21
COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL &
PREVENTION (Sept. 10, 2020), https://bit.ly/36RatI6 ........................................... 8, 10
Craig Evan Pollack, Kathryn M. Leifheit & Sabriya L. Linton, When Storms Collide:
Evictions, COVID-19, and Health Equity, HEALTH AFF. (Aug. 4, 2020),
https://bit.ly/36JuHnd ......................................................................................... 12, 13
Danya E. Keene, “That Wasn't Really a Place to Worry About Diabetes”: Housing
Access and Diabetes Self-Management Among Low-Income Adults, 197 SOC. SCI. &
MED. 71 (2018)........................................................................................................... 10
Deena Greenberg, Carl Gershenson & Matthew Desmond, Discrimination in
Evictions: Empirical Evidence and Legal Challenges, 51 HARV. C.R-C.L. L.
REV. 115 (2016). ........................................................................................................ 20
Dusica Lecic Tosevski & Milica Pejovic Milovancevic, Stressful Life Events and
Physical Health, 19 CURRENT OP. PSYCHIATRY 184, 185, 187 (2006) ....................... 9
Emily A. Benfer, David Vlahov, Marissa Long, Evan Walker-Wells, J.L. Pottenger,
Jr., Gregg Gonsalves, & Danya E. Keene, Eviction, Health Inequity, and the
Spread of COVID-19: Housing Policy as a Primary Pandemic Mitigation Strategy,
98 J. URB. HEALTH 1 (2021), https://bit.ly/2LcBvRA. .................. 9, 10, 11, 14, 21, 22
Emily A. Benfer, Seema Mohapatra, Lindsay F. Wiley & Ruqaiijah Yearby, Health
Justice Strategies to Combat the Pandemic: Eliminating Discrimination, Poverty,
ix
and Health Inequity During and After COVID-19, 19 YALE J. HEALTH POL’Y L. &
ETHICS 122 (2020), https://bit.ly/2GzVW9c. ............................................................. 22
Eric Lofgren et al., Influenza Seasonality: Underlying Causes and Modeling
Theories, 81 J. VIROLOGY 5429 (2007) ........................................................................ 7
Gabriel L. Schwartz, Cycles of Disadvantage: Eviction & Children’s Health in the
United States (2020) (Ph.D. dissertation, Harv. U) https://bit.ly/31NMJBw .. 12, 13
Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Jarvis T. Chen, Mariana C. Arcaya &
Lisa Berkman, Childhood Eviction and Cognitive Skills: Developmental TimingSpecific Associations in an Urban Birth Cohort (unpublished manuscript under
publication review) (on file with author) ................................................................. 13
Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Lisa Berkman, Jarvis T. Chen &
Mariana C. Arcaya, Health Selection into Eviction: Adverse Birth Outcomes and
Children’s Risk of Eviction Through Age 5, AM. J. EPIDEMIOLOGY (in print)... 12, 14
Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Lisa Berkman, Mariana Arcaya & Jarvis
T. Chen, Is Eviction Poisonous? A Survival Analysis of Eviction and Lead
Poisoning in a National Urban Birth Cohort (unpublished manuscript) (on file
with author) ............................................................................................................... 13
Heather Sandstrom & Sandra Huerta, URB. INST., The Negative Effects of
Instability on Child Development: A Research Synthesis 6 (2013),
https://urbn.is/2SCVfhB. ........................................................................................... 13
Heidi L. Allen et al., Can Medicaid Expansion Prevent Housing Evictions?, HEALTH
AFFS. (Sept. 2019), https://bit.ly/30IZwEQ ........................................................ 12, 13
x
Homelessness & Health: What’s the Connection?, NAT’L HEALTHCARE FOR THE
HOMELESS COUNCIL (Feb. 2019), https://bit.ly/34GF74a ......................................... 11
Homelessness Just ‘One of The Concerns’ When Someone Is Evicted, NEWSWISE (Jan.
28, 2020), https://bit.ly/3loTQHR ............................................................................. 13
Housing is the Best Medicine: Supportive Housing and the Social Determinants of
Health, CORP. FOR SUPPORTIVE HOUS. (July 2014), https://bit.ly/2SFpvIQ ............ 11
Hugo Vásquez-Vera et al., The Threat of Home Eviction and Its Effects on Health
Through the Equity Lens: A Systemic Review, 175 SOC. SCI. & MED. 199, 202–05
(2017) ........................................................................................................................... 9
Jason DeParle, Federal Aid to Renters Moves Slowly, Leaving Many at Risk, N.Y.
TIMES (Apr. 25, 2021), https://nyti.ms/3vkFHAr ....................................................... 3
Julia Raifman, Catherine Ettman, Lorraine Dean, Colleen Barry & Sandro Gale,
COVID-19 Related Stressors and Suicidal Ideation (unpublished manuscript on
file with counsel). ...................................................................................................... 12
Kathryn M. Leifheit, Eviction in Early Childhood and Neighborhood Poverty, Food
Security, and Obesity in Later Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from a
Longitudinal Birth Cohort, 11 SSM—POPULATION HEALTH 1 (2020) .................... 13
Kathryn M. Leifheit, Gabriel L. Schwartz, Craig E. Pollack, Kathryn J. Edin,
Maureen M. Black, Jacky M. Jennings, and Keri N. Althof, Severe Housing
Insecurity during Pregnancy: Association with Adverse Birth and Infant
Outcomes, 17 INT’L J. ENV’T RES. PUB. HEALTH 8659 (2020) https://bit.ly/3ga1vIJ.
.................................................................................................................................... 13
xi
Kathryn M. Leifheit, Sabriya L. Linton, Julia Raifman, Gabriel L. Schwartz, Emily
A. Benfer, Frederick J. Zimmerman & Craig Evan Pollack, Expiring Eviction
Moratoria and COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality (Nov. 30, 2020),
https://bit.ly/2VBio5y .......................................................................................... 14, 15
Kathryn M. Leifheit, Severe Housing Insecurity in Pregnancy: Association with
Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Cohort of Urban Mothers and Infants, AM. PUB.
HEALTH ASS’N (Nov. 5, 2019), https://bit.ly/3lvdBNN ............................................. 14
Kay Jowers, Christopher Timmins, Nrupen Bhavsar, Qihui Hu & Julia Marshall,
Housing Precarity & The COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts of Utility Disconnection
and Eviction Moratoria on Infections and Deaths Across US Counties, (NBER
Working Paper No. 28394, 2021), bit.ly/3tKdCSH ............................................ 15, 16
Lauren Bauer, Mothers are Being Left Behind in the Economic Recovery from
COVID-19, HAMILTON PROJECT (May 6, 2021). ....................................................... 19
Lillian Leung, Peter Hepburn & Matthew Desmond, Serial Eviction Filings: Civil
Courts, Property Management, and the Threat of Displacement, SOC. FORCES 1, 19
(2020), https://bit.ly/2FcNPhX .................................................................................... 4
Linda M. Niccolai, Kim M. Blankenship & Danya E. Keene, Eviction from RenterOccupied Households and Rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections: A CountyLevel Ecological Analysis, 46 SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 63 (2019) 9, 10, 12
M. Kermode et al., Tuberculosis Infection and Homelessness in Melbourne,
Australia, 1995-1996, 3 INT’L J. TUBERCULOSIS & LUNG DISEASE 901 (1999) .......... 7
xii
Map and Data, EVICTION LAB, http://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016 (last visited June
27, 2021) ............................................................................................................... 3, 16
Mark Hugo Lopez et al., Financial and Health Impacts of COVID-19 Vary Widely by
Race and Ethnicity, PEW RES. CTR. (May 5, 2020), https://pewrsr.ch/3xltflK ........ 20
Mary Clare Kennedy et al., Residential Eviction and Risk of Detectable Plasma HIV1 RNA Viral Load Among HIV-Positive People Who Use Drugs, 21 AIDS & BEHAV.
678 (2017). ........................................................................................................... 10, 12
MATTHEW DESMOND, EVICTED (2016)........................................................................... 13
Matthew Desmond, Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty, 118 AM. J.
SOC. 88, 120 (2012) ...................................................................................................... 6
Matthew Desmond, Unaffordable America: Poverty, Housing, and Eviction, 22 FAST
FOCUS 1 (2015), https://bit.ly/36MxjAO ............................................................... 4, 13
Maxia Dong et al., Childhood Residential Mobility and Multiple Health Risks
During Adolescence and Adulthood: The Hidden Role of Adverse Childhood
Experiences, 159 ARCHIVES OF PEDIATRICS & ADOLESCENT MED. 1104 (2005). ...... 13
Michael Baker et al., Household Crowding a Major Risk Factor for Epidemic
Meningococcal Disease in Auckland Children, 19 PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE
J. 983 (2000) ................................................................................................................ 7
Michelle D. Layser et al., Mitigating Housing Instability During a Pandemic, Or. L.
Rev. (forthcoming) (manuscript at 4, 14), https://bit.ly/3sOpjGS ............................. 7
xiii
Nihaya Daoud et al., Pathways and Trajectories Linking Housing Instability and
Poor Health Among Low-Income Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence
(IPV): Toward A Conceptual Framework, 56 WOMEN & HEALTH 208 (2016). ........ 12
Olivia Jin, Emily Lemmerman & Peter Hepburn, Neighborhoods with Highest
Eviction Filing Rates have Lowest Levels of COVID-19 Vaccination, Eviction Lab
(June 11, 2021) https://bit.ly/3jkVAnI. ................................................................. 5, 17
Patrick K. Munywoki et al., Frequent Asymptomatic Respiratory Syncytial Virus
Infections During an Epidemic in a Rural Kenyan Household Cohort, 212 J.
INFECTIOUS DISEASES 1711 (2015) .............................................................................. 7
Patty R. Wilson & Kathryn Laughon, House to House, Shelter to Shelter:
Experiences of Black Women Seeking Housing After Leaving Abusive
Relationships, 11 J. FORENSIC NURSING 77 (2015). ................................................. 12
People at Increased Risk, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION (Apr.. 20,
2021), https://bit.ly/2GNtvEi .................................................................................... 11
People with Certain Medical Conditions, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION
(Mar. 21, 2021), https://bit.ly/3jVuuRL .................................................................... 11
Peter Hepburn & Renee Louis, Preliminary Analysis: Shifts in Eviction Filings from
the CARES Act to the CDC Order, EVICTION LAB (Sept. 22, 2020),
https://bit.ly/30LMeaw ................................................................................................ 5
Peter Hepburn, Renee Louis & Matthew Desmond, Racial and Gender Disparaties
Among Evicted Americans, 7 SOCIO. SCI. 649 (2020) ........................................ 11, 20
xiv
Policy Basics: How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available?,
CTR. ON BUDGET & POL’Y PRIORITIES (last updated Apr. 17, 2021) ........................... 3
Press Release, BUREAU OF LAB. STAT., The Employment Situation—May 2021 (June
4, 2021), https://bit.ly/2UGrvVs.................................................................................. 3
Racial Data Dashboard, COVID TRACKING PROJECT, https://bit.ly/2QvDF1t ........... 22
Renee Louis, Alieza Durana & Peter Hepburn, Preliminary Analysis: Eviction
Claim Amounts During COVID-19 Pandemic, EVICTION LAB (Aug. 27, 2020),
https://bit.ly/3gAS5Io. ................................................................................................. 4
Robert Collinson & Davin Reed, The Effects of Evictions on Low-Income Households
(Dec. 2018), https://bit.ly/3lrYftK ............................................................................. 12
Sara K. Rankin, Punishing Homelessness, 22 NEW CRIM. L. REV. 99, 126 (2019). ..... 8
Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé, Ken Teoh & Martín Uribe, Covid-19: Testing Inequality
in New York City (NBER Working Paper No. 27019), https://bit.ly/3vm6YCH ...... 8
Stephen Gaetz et al., Youth Homelessness and Housing Stability: What Outcomes
Should We Be Looking For?, 32 Healthcare Mgmt. F. 73 (2019). .......................... 13
Temporary Halt in in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of
COVID-19, 85 FED. REG. 55292 (Sept. 4, 2020) ......................................................... 5
The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S.,
APM RES. LAB (Mar. 5, 2021), https://bit.ly/36K8ZPL ............................................ 21
The Eviction Tracking System, EVICTION LAB, https://bit.ly/3tPrgUP (last updated
June 19, 2020) ......................................................................................................... 4, 5
xv
Thomas Kottke et al., Access to Affordable Housing Promotes Health and Well-Being
and Reduces Hospital Visits, 22 PERMANENT J. 1 (2017) ........................................ 13
Tracking the COVID-19 Recession’s Effects on Food, Housing, and Employment
Hardships, CTR. ON BUDGET & POL’Y PRIORITIES, https://bit.ly/34ojru0................. 19
U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY OFF., Covid19 Housing Protections: Moratoriums Have
Helped Limit Evictions, but Further Outreach Is Needed (2021) ............................. 5
Understanding the Data, THE COVKID PROJECT (Mar. 6, 2021),
https://bit.ly/3nhkhBz ............................................................................................... 21
Unemployment Insurance Relief During COVID-19 Outbreak, U.S. DEP’T OF LAB. .... 3
Week 30 Household Pulse Survey: May 12 – May 24, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU (June 2,
2021), https://bit.ly/3wXp277. ............................................................................... 3, 18
Yerko Rojas & Sten-Åke Stenberg, Evictions and Suicide: A Follow-Up Study of
Almost 22 000 Swedish Households In The Wake Of The Global Financial Crisis,
70 J. OF EPIDEMIOLOGY & COMM. HEALTH 409 (2016). ............................................ 12
xvi
INTRODUCTION AND INTEREST OF AMICI CURIAE1
The 22 amici curiae2 joining this brief are the nation’s foremost experts on
eviction, housing, and health. They include: national association amici that represent medical professionals who strive to advance the health of children, adolescents,
adults, and disadvantaged and minority populations; organizational amici that specialize in public health; and individual amici who are sociologists, epidemiologists,
and public health, law, nursing, and medical school faculty. Based on their extensive research and work in this area, all amici recognize that housing is critical to
protecting public health and ensuring health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, they submit this brief in support of respondents and in opposition to Applicants’ emergency application to vacate the district court’s stay.
Eviction moratoriums help reduce the spread of COVID-19. When the majority
of state-level moratoriums expired, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(“CDC”) issued an agency order (“CDC Order”) to prevent evictions from spreading
COVID-19 and thwarting pandemic mitigation efforts. The CDC Order recites only
the tip of the iceberg of health evidence linking evictions and COVID-19 spread. The
best available studies suggest that complete and comprehensive eviction moratoriums can effectively slow the spread of COVID-19 and prevent COVID-19 transmission, infection, and mortality.
1 Pursuant to Rule 37.6, amici affirm that no counsel for a party authored this brief in whole or in
part and that no person other than amici and their counsel made a monetary contribution to its
preparation or submission. The parties have consented to the filing of this brief.
2 Briefs filed by the amici do not represent any institutional views of the law schools and universities
with which the amici are affiliated, or their counsel.
1
Protecting public health during the pandemic requires protecting those most
likely to contract, spread, and die from COVID-19. The people most at risk of eviction
are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 and are likely to live in the ZIP codes with
the lowest vaccination rates. Low-income populations are often exposed to social determinants of poor health and often have chronic illness or disability. As such, they
are at enhanced risk of serious complications or death as a result of COVID-19. The
consequences of eviction (such as overcrowding, homelessness, and housing instability) spur contact with others and hinder compliance with key strategies to contain
COVID-19, including social distancing, self-quarantining, and hand hygiene. These
deleterious health impacts and the spread of COVID-19 are tied to the act of eviction
itself and are quite preventable if evictions are halted under the CDC’s moratorium
at this critical turning point in the pandemic’s course.
ARGUMENT
I.
Mass Evictions Are Likely Nationwide Without the CDC Order
A. The COVID-19 Pandemic Significantly Increased Housing Insecurity
COVID-19 struck the United States when millions of adults and children al-
ready lived perilously close to eviction. One out of four (10.9 million) renters spent
over half of their income on housing before the pandemic due to stagnant wages, rising rents, and lack of federal financial support.3 In the United States, 29.3% of renter
households were rent burdened—defined as spending 30–50% of income on housing—
3 America’s Rental Housing 2020, JOINT CTR. FOR HOUS. STUD. OF HARV. U. 4, 26 (2020),
https://bit.ly/3iJ95tx.
2
before the pandemic.4 In 2016, the last available year of nationwide eviction data, 3.7
million evictions were filed nationally.5
The pandemic recession precipitated widespread job and wage loss. Between
April and July 2020, the national unemployment rose as high as 14.7%; most recently
it rested at 5.8% in May 2021.6 That month, the Census Bureau estimated that over
7 million renters were behind on housing payments.7 On top of this, 19.88% of all
households with children reported slight or no confidence in their ability to pay next
month’s rent, and thus are at heightened risk of eviction.8 Throughout the pandemic,
Black families have faced the highest risk of eviction. 9 Federal unemployment
assistance, stimulus payments, and rental assistance have not been sufficient to
prevent debt accumulation among tenants. 10 Rental assistance is only just beginning
to reach tenants and landlords.11
B. Without Legal Protections from Eviction, Filing Rates Increase
4 Map and Data, EVICTION LAB, http://evictionlab.org/map/#/2016 (last visited June 27, 2021) (based
on U.S. Census 2011-2016 American Community Survey).
5 On the Brink of Homelessness: How the Affordable Housing Crisis and the Gentrification of America
Is Leaving Families Vulnerable: Hearing Before the H. Comm. on Fin. Servs., 116th Cong. 3 (2020)
(statement of Matthew Desmond), https://bit.ly/3npCaxH.
6 Press Release, BUREAU OF LAB. STAT., The Employment Situation—May 2021 (June 4, 2021),
https://bit.ly/2UGrvVs.
7 Week 30 Household Pulse Survey: May 12 – May 24, U.S. CENSUS BUREAU at Housing Table 1b
(June 2, 2021), https://bit.ly/3wXp277.
8 Id. at Housing Table 2b.
9 Emily Lemmerman, Renee Louis, Joe Fish & Peter Hepburn, Preliminary Analysis: Who is being
filed against during the pandemic?, EVICTION LAB (Dec. 21, 2020), https://bit.ly/3t1nsyi.
10 See Policy Basics: How Many Weeks of Unemployment Compensation Are Available?, CTR. ON
BUDGET & POL’Y PRIORITIES, https://bit.ly/2RaIT2Y (last updated Apr. 17, 2021); Unemployment
Insurance Relief During COVID-19 Outbreak, U.S. DEP’T OF LAB., https://bit.ly/3vo3mQs (last visited
May 12, 2021).
11 Jason DeParle, Federal Aid to Renters Moves Slowly, Leaving Many at Risk, N.Y. TIMES (Apr. 25,
2021), https://nyti.ms/3vkFHAr.
3
During the pandemic, the Eviction Lab at Princeton University has tracked
real-time eviction filings in 27 cities and 5 states, representing one-fifth of the rental
market.12 Based on this data, the Eviction Lab identified that a significant number
of property owners use the eviction process as a rent collection tool13 and are evicting
tenants for small amounts of money—during the pandemic, typically less than the
local median amount for one month’s rent and as little as $120—showing that property owners seem to have a low threshold for profit loss before they consider displacing their tenants.14 At the same time, tenants lack legal protections or support to
contest evictions, especially as demand for legal assistance has increased during the
pandemic. 15 Municipalities with weaker eviction protections see more eviction filings.16
The Eviction Lab’s research on eviction filings during the pandemic shows that
1) moratoriums effectively chill eviction filings during the pandemic; and 2) without
moratoriums, eviction filings quickly reach or exceed historic filing rates. Along with
stimulus and federal unemployment payments, the CARES Act slowed evictions by
12 The Eviction Tracking System, EVICTION LAB, https://bit.ly/3tPrgUP (last updated June 19, 2020).
13 Lillian Leung, Peter Hepburn & Matthew Desmond, Serial Eviction Filings: Civil Courts, Property
Management, and the Threat of Displacement, SOC. FORCES 1, 19 (2020), https://bit.ly/2FcNPhX.
14 Renee Louis, Alieza Durana & Peter Hepburn, Preliminary Analysis: Eviction Claim Amounts
During COVID-19 Pandemic, EVICTION LAB (Aug. 27, 2020), https://bit.ly/3gAS5Io.
15 Nationwide, an estimated 90% of landlords have legal counsel compared to only 10% of tenants in
eviction proceedings. Matthew Desmond, Unaffordable America: Poverty, Housing, and Eviction, 22
FAST FOCUS 1 (2015), https://bit.ly/36MxjAO.
16 The Eviction Tracking System, supra note 12.
4
prohibiting eviction of tenants in buildings with federally backed mortgages or federal subsidies until August 25.17 Since September 4, 2020, the CDC Order has forestalled residential evictions where a tenant meets certain criteria.18 These actions to
prevent the spread of COVID-19 were effective. In the short period between expiration of CARES Act protections and promulgation of the CDC Order, new eviction filings rose quickly to exceed historical levels in almost every jurisdiction without a
local moratorium (Figure 1).19 Eviction filings rose as much as 395% above historical
weekly averages after the CARES Act expired.20 Following the CDC Order, new filings dropped dramatically, to as low as 83% below historical weekly averages.21 The
Eviction Lab estimates that, due to moratoriums, landlords filed 2.14 million fewer
evictions since March 15, 2020 than would be typically filed.22 Without the CDC Order, it is likely that evictions will quickly increase to unprecedented heights. This
would place families and individuals at risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19,
as well as related and severe health harms.
17 Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, Pub. L. No. 116-136, § 4024, 134
Stat. 281, 491 (2020).
18 Temporary Halt in in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19, 85 FED.
REG. 55292 (Sept. 4, 2020); CDC Eviction Moratorium – Initial Analysis, NLIHC (Sept. 4,
2020), https://bit.ly/2GFrn1C.
19 Peter Hepburn & Renee Louis, Preliminary Analysis: Shifts in Eviction Filings from the CARES
Act to the CDC Order, EVICTION LAB (Sept. 22, 2020), https://bit.ly/30LMeaw.
20 The Eviction Tracking System, supra note 12.
21 Olivia Jin, Emily Lemmerman & Peter Hepburn, Neighborhoods with Highest Eviction Filing
Rates have Lowest Levels of COVID-19 Vaccination, EVICTION LAB (June 11, 2021)
https://bit.ly/3jkVAnI; see also Hepburn & Louis, supra note 19, reporting 1.55 million fewer filings
in 2020.
22 Peter Hepburn, Renee Louis, Joe Fish, Emily Lemmerman, Anne Kat Alexander, Timothy A.
Thomas, Robert Koehler, Emily Benfer & Matthew Desmond, U.S. Eviction Filings in 2020, SOCIUS
(2021). See also U.S. GOV’T ACCOUNTABILITY OFF., Covid19 Housing Protections: Moratoriums Have
Helped Limit Evictions, but Further Outreach Is Needed 15 (2021)
.
5
Figure 1. Weekly Eviction Filings in Eviction Tracker System Sites Relative to Historical Averages.
II.
Eviction Moratoriums Slow the Spread of COVID-19 and Prevent
Negative Short- and Long-Term Health Outcomes
A. Evictions Spread COVID-19, Thwarting Efforts to Contain the Virus
Eviction forces families into transiency and crowded residential environments23 that increase new contact with others and make compliance with pandemic
health guidelines difficult, if not impossible (Figure 2). Eviction increases the likelihood of staying with family and friends who may themselves be at high risk for
23 Matthew Desmond, Eviction and the Reproduction of Urban Poverty, 118 AM. J. SOC. 88, 120
(2012) (stating eviction “greatly diminishes one’s chance of securing affordable housing in a decent
neighborhood, stymies one’s chances of securing housing assistance, and often leads to homelessness
and increased residential mobility”).
6
COVID-19.24 Residential crowding and increased contact with others drive the spread
of respiratory illnesses, including COVID-19.25 Even seemingly small differences in
household size have been linked to substantial increases in the transmission rate of
infectious disease.26 Adding as few as two new members to a household can as much
as double the risk of other illness.27 This increased likelihood of transmission of infectious disease generally comports with research on the novel coronavirus, which
recognizes that individuals are at particularly high risk of contracting COVID-19
from others in their household.28
Smaller, crowded spaces increase the spread of respiratory diseases like
COVID-19. During the 1918 influenza epidemic, the difference between having 45
square feet and 78 square feet of living space per person was associated with a ten-
24 Michelle D. Layser et al., Mitigating Housing Instability During a Pandemic, OR. L. REV. (forth-
coming 2021) (manuscript at 4, 14), https://bit.ly/3sOpjGS.
25 See Eric Lofgren et al., Influenza Seasonality: Underlying Causes and Modeling Theories, 81 J. VIROLOGY 5429, 5431 (2007); see also B.L. Gleason et al., Geospatial Analysis of Household Spread of
Ebola Virus in Quarantined Village—Sierra Leone, 2014, 145 EPIDEMIOLOGY & INFECTION 2921,
2921 (2017) (showing that an increasing number of persons per household was a risk factor for
household Ebola acquisition); M. Kermode et al., Tuberculosis Infection and Homelessness in Melbourne, Australia, 1995-1996, 3 INT’L J. TUBERCULOSIS & LUNG DISEASE 901, 901, 905 (1999); Andrew R. Zolopa et al., HIV and Tuberculosis Infection in San Francisco's Homeless Adults: Prevalence
and Risk Factors in a Representative Sample, 272 JAMA 455, 458 (1994).
26 Patrick K. Munywoki et al., Frequent Asymptomatic Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infections During
an Epidemic in a Rural Kenyan Household Cohort, 212 J. INFECTIOUS DISEASES 1711, 1711 (2015),
https://bit.ly/3nwYDJ2; see also Abhishek Bakuli et al., Effects of Pathogen Dependency in a MultiPathogen Infectious Disease System Including Population Level Heterogeneity—A Simulation Study,
14 THEORETICAL BIOLOGY & MED. MODELLING 1, 1 (2017), https://bit.ly/2IaVtdW.
27 Michael Baker et al., Household Crowding a Major Risk Factor for Epidemic Meningococcal Disease in Auckland Children, 19 PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE J. 983, 983 (2000) (adding two adolescents or adults to a six-room home roughly doubles the risk of meningococcal disease).
28 Qifang Bi et al., Epidemiology and Transmission of COVID-19 in 391 Cases and 1286 of Their
Close Contacts in Shenzhen, China: A Retrospective Cohort Study, 20 LANCET 911, 911 (2020).
7
fold increase in the rate of illness.29 Other studies suggest overcrowding spreads tuberculosis30 and severe cases of influenza among children.31
Evicted households are likely to contract—and spread—COVID-19 while moving from shelter to shelter or home to home.32 In many cases, people facing homelessness will sleep in cars or outdoors, where they have access only to public restrooms.33
These environments prevent individuals and families from adhering to the CDC’s
primary interventions: social distancing, maintaining good hygiene practices such as
hand washing, self-quarantining, or cleaning masks and other personal protective
equipment. By driving families to poorer neighborhoods, eviction may also lead to less
frequent COVID-19 testing.34
29 C. Andrew Aligne, Overcrowding and Mortality During the Influenza Pandemic of 1918: Evidence
from U.S. Army Camp A.A. Humphreys, Virginia, 106 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 642, 642 (2016) (noting
that the relationship between crowding and flu was highly significant (p < 0.001)).
30 E. Drucker et al., Childhood Tuberculosis in the Bronx, New York, 343 LANCET 1482, 1482 (1994),
https://bit.ly/34FEaci.
31 Kimberly M. Yousey-Hindes & James L. Hadler, Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status and Influenza Hospitalizations Among Children: New Haven County, Connecticut, 2003–2010, 101 AM. J. PUB.
HEALTH 1785 (2011).
32 COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION (Sept. 10,
2020), https://bit.ly/36RatI6.
33 Sara K. Rankin, Punishing Homelessness, 22 NEW CRIM. L. REV. 99, 126 (2019).
34 Stephanie Schmitt-Grohé, Ken Teoh & Martín Uribe, Covid-19: Testing Inequality in New York
City (NBER Working Paper No. 27019), https://bit.ly/3vm6YCH.
8
Figure 2. Eviction Increases the Risk of COVID-19 Acquisition and Transmission.35
Indeed, the mere threat of eviction can increase stress levels, anxiety, and depression, which weaken the immune system.36 These responses are likely to advance
the spread of infectious diseases. Because of the highly contagious nature of COVID19, increased contraction of the disease among individuals facing eviction can quickly
boost transmission across a large segment of the community.
Housing stability is especially critical to pandemic control because infected
persons can spread COVID-19 before they start showing symptoms and possibly for
weeks after symptoms appear.37 According to the CDC, approximately 30% of infected
individuals may never show symptoms—but nonetheless may transmit the virus to
35 Emily A. Benfer, David Vlahov, Marissa Long, Evan Walker-Wells, J.L. Pottenger, Jr., Gregg
Gonsalves & Danya E. Keene, Eviction, Health Inequity, and the Spread of COVID-19: Housing Policy as a Primary Pandemic Mitigation Strategy, 98 J. URB. HEALTH 1 (2021), https://bit.ly/2LcBvRA.
36 Dusica Lecic Tosevski & Milica Pejovic Milovancevic, Stressful Life Events and Physical Health, 19
CURRENT OP. PSYCHIATRY 184, 185, 187 (2006); see Hugo Vásquez-Vera et al., The Threat of Home
Eviction and Its Effects on Health Through the Equity Lens: A Systemic Review, 175 SOC. SCI. & MED.
199, 202–05 (2017); see generally Linda M. Niccolai, Kim M. Blankenship & Danya E. Keene, Eviction from Renter-Occupied Households and Rates of Sexually Transmitted Infections: A County-Level
Ecological Analysis, 46 SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES 63 (2019).
37 COVID-19 Basics, HARV. MED. SCH., https://bit.ly/3nviSa3 (last updated June 22, 2021) (summarizing studies that “have shown that symptoms could appear as soon as three days after exposure to as
long as 13 days later”).
9
others.38 Due to the high rate of movement among people who face eviction, eviction
is likely to spread COVID-19 by exposing healthy individuals to those who are unaware they are carrying the virus or those who know they have COVID-19, but are
unable to self-isolate.39
Eviction is associated with decreased access to primary and specialty medical
care, regardless of an individual’s housing status post-eviction.40 In addition, those
facing eviction have difficulty prioritizing their health needs while fighting to maintain housing.41 From this baseline, eviction itself amplifies individual risk of COVID19 complications and mortality.
Whether through increased crowding; decreased ability to maintain safe, clean,
and hygienic living spaces; or limited access to health care, eviction is particularly
threatening to individual and public health during a pandemic.42
B. Eviction Increases the Rate of COVID-19 Among High-Risk Populations,
Leading to Long-Term Complications or Death
38 COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios, supra note 32, at Table 1.
39 Anjalika Nande, Justin Sheen, Emma L. Walters, Brennan Klein, Matteo Chinazzi, Andrei H.
Gheorghe, Ben Adlam, Julianna Shinnick, Maria Florencia Tejeda, Samuel V. Scarpino, Alessandro
Vespignani, Andrew J. Greenlee, Daniel Schneider, Michael Z. Levy & Alison L. Hill, The Effect of
Eviction Moratoria on the Transmission of SARS-CoV-2, 12 NATURE COMM’NS 2274 (2021),
https://go.nature.com/3esNYLV.
40 See Mary Clare Kennedy et al., Residential Eviction and Risk of Detectable Plasma HIV-1 RNA Viral Load Among HIV-Positive People Who Use Drugs, 21 AIDS & BEHAV. 678, 681, 683 (2017). Eviction may lead to decreased engagement in healthcare, resulting in missed appointments and lack of
adherence to prescribed treatment. See Niccolai, Blankenship & Keene, supra note 36, at 66.
41 Danya E. Keene, “That Wasn't Really a Place to Worry About Diabetes”: Housing Access and Diabetes Self-Management Among Low-Income Adults, 197 SOC. SCI. & MED. 71 (2018).
42 Benfer et al., supra note 35.
10
People most vulnerable to eviction are more likely to suffer from poor health
conditions that place them at high risk of severe or fatal cases of COVID-19.43 The
lower a person’s socioeconomic status, the greater their risk of eviction and suffering
from chronic diseases, including heart disease, pulmonary disease, and diabetes.44
Each of these may increase the mortality risk of COVID-19.45 The CDC has identified
several comorbidities that increase risk of severe illness with COVID-19, including
pulmonary disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, chronic liver or kidney disease, and respiratory disease.46 Each of these conditions is more prevalent among
low-income populations and people of color, the populations most at risk of eviction
before and during the pandemic.47
Eviction itself leads to numerous comorbidities.48 Evictions are associated with
several interrelated conditions, including anxiety, depression, sexually transmitted
43 Id. at nn.51–81, table. 1.
44 Id. at 57.
45 Id.
46 People with Certain Medical Conditions, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION (Mar. 21,
2021), https://bit.ly/3jVuuRL; People at Increased Risk, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION
(Apr. 20, 2021), https://bit.ly/2GNtvEi.
47 Peter Hepburn, Renee Louis & Matthew Desmond, Racial and Gender Disparities Among Evicted
Americans, 7 SOCIO. SCI. 649 (2020); Housing is the Best Medicine: Supportive Housing and the Social Determinants of Health, CORP. FOR SUPPORTIVE HOUS. (July 2014), https://bit.ly/2SFpvIQ.
48 Homelessness & Health: What’s the Connection?, NAT’L HEALTHCARE FOR THE HOMELESS COUNCIL (Feb. 2019), https://bit.ly/34GF74a; CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREVENTION, supra note 46.
11
infections, 49 HIV-related treatment outcomes, 50 drug use, 51 exposure to violence, 52 mental health hospitalization, 53 and suicide. 54 During the COVID-19 pandemic, a study from researchers at Boston University and Johns Hopkins schools of
public health found that suicidal ideation increased more than fourfold; stressors including difficulty paying the rent were associated with suicidal ideation.55 For women,
eviction is associated with physical and sexual assault, 56 drug use and related
harms,57 mental illness,58 and future housing precarity.59 The health conditions and
high health care costs associated with eviction make future evictions more likely.60
49 Niccolai, Blankenship & Keene, supra note 36, at 65.
50 Kennedy et al., supra note 40, at 7–8.
51 Andreas Pilarinos et al., The Association Between Residential Eviction and Syringe Sharing
Among a Prospective Cohort of Street-Involved Youth, 14 HARM REDUCTION J. 1, 3 (2017).
52 Kennedy et al., supra note 40.
53 Robert Collinson & Davin Reed, The Effects of Evictions on Low-Income Households at 3 (Dec.
2018), https://bit.ly/3lrYftK.
54 Yerko Rojas & Sten-Åke Stenberg, Evictions and Suicide: A Follow-Up Study of Almost 22,000
Swedish Households in The Wake Of The Global Financial Crisis, 70 J. OF EPIDEMIOLOGY & COMM.
HEALTH 409, 412–13 (2016).
55 Julia Raifman, Catherine Ettman, Lorraine Dean, Colleen Barry & Sandro Gale, COVID-19 Related Stressors and Suicidal Ideation (unpublished manuscript on file with counsel).
56 Nihaya Daoud et al., Pathways and Trajectories Linking Housing Instability and Poor Health
Among Low-Income Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence (IPV): Toward A Conceptual
Framework, 56 WOMEN & HEALTH 208, 209–10 (2016).
57 Alexandra B. Collins et al., Surviving the Housing Crisis: Social Violence and the Production of
Evictions Among Women Who Use Drugs in Vancouver, Canada, 51 HEALTH & PLACE 174, 179 (2018).
58 Patty R. Wilson & Kathryn Laughon, House to House, Shelter to Shelter: Experiences of Black
Women Seeking Housing After Leaving Abusive Relationships, 11 J. FORENSIC NURSING 77, 77 (2015).
59 Craig Evan Pollack, Kathryn M. Leifheit & Sabriya L. Linton, When Storms Collide: Evictions,
COVID-19, and Health Equity, HEALTH AFF. (Aug. 4, 2020), https://bit.ly/36JuHnd.
60 Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Lisa Berkman, Jarvis T. Chen & Mariana C. Arcaya,
Health Selection into Eviction: Adverse Birth Outcomes and Children’s Risk of Eviction Through Age
5, AM. J. EPIDEMIOLOGY (in print); Gabriel L. Schwartz, Cycles of Disadvantage: Eviction & Children’s Health in the United States (2020) (Ph.D. dissertation, Harv. U.) https://bit.ly/31NMJBw; see
also Heidi L. Allen et al., Can Medicaid Expansion Prevent Housing Evictions?, HEALTH AFFS. (Sept.
2019), https://bit.ly/30IZwEQ.
12
In this way, eviction worsens longstanding patterns of economic and housing instability in addition to poor health.61
Eviction is particularly traumatizing to children and affects emotional and
physical well-being and development for years, if not a lifetime.62 Eviction increases
the likelihood of emotional trauma, lead poisoning,63 food insecurity,64 and academic
decline for children.65 Eviction is also strongly associated with adverse childhood experiences, which have long-term negative health impacts, including increased risk of
cardiovascular disease and pulmonary disease in adulthood and decreased life expectancy. 66 Children whose mothers are evicted during pregnancy are more likely to
61 MATTHEW DESMOND, EVICTED (2016); Allen et al., supra note 60; Pollack, Leifheit & Linton, supra
note 59.
62 AM. ACAD. OF PEDIATRICS, Providing Care for Children and Adolescents Facing Homelessness and
Housing Insecurity, 131 PEDIATRICS 1206 (2013), https://bit.ly/3dbi0CT; Heather Sandstrom & Sandra Huerta, URB. INST., The Negative Effects of Instability on Child Development: A Research Synthesis 6 (2013), https://urbn.is/2SCVfhB.
63 Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Lisa Berkman, Mariana Arcaya & Jarvis T. Chen, Is
Eviction Poisonous? A Survival Analysis of Eviction and Lead Poisoning in a National Urban
Birth Cohort (unpublished manuscript) (on file with author); Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Lisa Berkman, Jarvis T. Chen & Mariana C. Arcaya, Health Selection into Eviction: Adverse
Birth Outcomes and Children’s Risk of Eviction Through Age 5, AM. J. EPIDEMIOLOGY (forthcoming)
(draft on file with authors). See also Homelessness Just ‘One of The Concerns’ When Someone Is
Evicted, NEWSWISE (Jan. 28, 2020), https://bit.ly/3loTQHR.
64 Kathryn M. Leifheit, Eviction in Early Childhood and Neighborhood Poverty, Food Security, and
Obesity in Later Childhood and Adolescence: Evidence from a Longitudinal Birth Cohort, 11 SSM—
POPULATION HEALTH 1, 6 (2020); Kathryn M. Leifheit, Gabriel L. Schwartz, Craig E. Pollack,
Kathryn J. Edin, Maureen M. Black, Jacky M. Jennings & Keri N. Althof, Severe Housing Insecurity
during Pregnancy: Association with Adverse Birth and Infant Outcomes, 17 INT’L J. ENV’T RES. PUB.
HEALTH 8659 (2020) https://bit.ly/3ga1vIJ.
65 Gabriel L. Schwartz, Kathryn M. Leifheit, Jarvis T. Chen, Mariana C. Arcaya & Lisa Berkman,
Childhood Eviction and Cognitive Skills: Developmental Timing-Specific Associations in an Urban
Birth Cohort (unpublished manuscript under publication review) (on file with author); Schwartz, supra note 60; see also Desmond, supra note 15; Thomas Kottke et al., Access to Affordable Housing
Promotes Health and Well-Being and Reduces Hospital Visits, 22 PERMANENT J. 1, 2–3 (2017); Stephen Gaetz et al., Youth Homelessness and Housing Stability: What Outcomes Should We Be Looking
For?, 32 HEALTHCARE MGMT. F. 73 (2019).
66 Maxia Dong et al., Childhood Residential Mobility and Multiple Health Risks During Adolescence
and Adulthood: The Hidden Role of Adverse Childhood Experiences, 159 ARCHIVES OF PEDIATRICS &
ADOLESCENT MED. 1104, 1107 (2005).
13
have adverse birth outcomes, such as low birthweight or preterm pregnancies.67 Families of children born with adverse birth outcomes are substantially more likely to be
evicted in the first five years of their child’s life.68 The evidence is clear: Child health
and housing security are closely intertwined.69 Ultimately, eviction primarily affects
members of society most vulnerable to COVID-19 and triggers a cycle of poor health
and housing instability that increases COVID-19 infection rates and severity.
C. Studies Suggest Eviction Moratoriums Prevent COVID-19 Deaths
Eviction moratoriums are an effective public health tool to slow COVID-19 infection and death.70 At least three recent peer-reviewed studies demonstrate this relationship. First, researchers from University of California-Los Angeles, John Hopkins University, Boston University, University of California-San Francisco, and
Wake Forest University used varying expiration dates of state eviction moratoriums
as a natural experiment to evaluate whether lifting moratoriums was associated with
increased COVID-19 spread and mortality.71 The study cohort included forty-three
states and the District of Columbia, which instituted moratoriums during the pandemic, and compared the twenty-seven states that lifted their moratoriums to those
that did not. After controlling for mask orders, stay at home orders, school closures,
67 Gracie Himmelstein & Matthew Desmond, Association of Evictions With Adverse Birth Outcomes
Among Women in Georgia, 2000 to 2016, JAMA PEDIATRICS (Mar. 1, 2021), https://bit.ly/3aJuaTf;
Kathryn M. Leifheit, Severe Housing Insecurity in Pregnancy: Association with Adverse Birth Outcomes in a Cohort of Urban Mothers and Infants, AM. PUB. HEALTH ASS’N (Nov. 5, 2019),
https://bit.ly/3lvdBNN.
68 Schwartz et al., supra note 60.
69 AM. ACAD. OF PEDIATRICS, supra note 62.
70 Benfer et al., supra note 35.
71 Kathryn M. Leifheit, Sabriya L. Linton, Julia Raifman, Gabriel L. Schwartz, Emily A. Benfer,
Frederick J. Zimmerman & Craig Evan Pollack, Expiring Eviction Moratoria and COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality, https://bit.ly/2VBio5y (in print 2021).
14
and testing rates, as well characteristics of states and underlying time trends, lifting
moratoriums was associated with 1.6 times higher COVID-19 mortality after seven
weeks and 5.4 times higher mortality after sixteen weeks.72 Similarly, lifting moratoriums was associated with 1.6 times higher incidence of COVID-19 after ten weeks,
and 2.1 times higher incidence after sixteen weeks compared to maintaining eviction
moratoriums (Figure 3).73
Figure 3. Relative Risk of COVID-19 Cases and Deaths Associated with Lifting
Moratoriums.74
A similar study conducted by researchers at Duke University and the National
Bureau of Economic Research substantiates these findings. 75 Comparing eviction
moratoriums against COVID-19 infection and mortality rates across municipalities,
72 Id. at 3.
73 Id.
74 Id. Adjusted rate ratios comparing daily COVID-19 incidence (blue, new cases per population)
and mortality (red, deaths per population) between states that lifted eviction moratoriums and
states that maintained moratoriums. Rate ratios were modeled using negative binomial regression
with fixed effects for state and calendar week, adjusting for testing rate, stay-at-home orders, school
closures, and mask mandates.
75 Kay Jowers, Christopher Timmins, Nrupen Bhavsar, Qihui Hu & Julia Marshall, Housing Precarity & The COVID-19 Pandemic: Impacts of Utility Disconnection and Eviction Moratoria on Infections and Deaths Across US Counties (NBER Working Paper No. 28394, 2021), bit.ly/3tKdCSH.
15
the authors conclude that policies limiting evictions reduced COVID-19 infection
rates by 3.8% and mortality by 11% between March and November 2020.76 Moreover,
had a nationwide eviction moratorium existed during the entire study period, the
authors estimate that national COVID-19 infection rates would have been 14.2%
lower and 40.7% fewer deaths would have occurred.77
Researchers from the University of Pennsylvania, Harvard University, and
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign modeled the potential impacts of lifting
eviction moratoriums on COVID-19 infection and mortality rates.78 The authors determined that even a 1% increase in eviction rate can increase COVID-19 infections
by 4%.79 With an increase to just 2%, below the pre-pandemic national average,80 the
model predicted a roughly 8% increase in total infections in the first week. 81 The
study demonstrates that the relationship between eviction rates and COVID-19 infections is not linear, but exponential.
D. Evictions Are Concentrated in Neighborhoods with the Lowest Vaccination
Rates And Slowest Economic Recoveries
The communities that face the greatest risk and harms of eviction are also
those with the lowest vaccination rates due to barriers to access. Eviction Lab tracking of eviction filings shows a strongly negative correlation between vaccination rate
and eviction filing—meaning that evictions are more likely in ZIP codes with fewer
76 Id. at 10–11.
77 Id. at 11.
78 Id.
79 Id.
80 Map and Data, supra note 4.
81 Nande et al., supra note 39.
16
vaccinated residents. The poorer a ZIP code, the lower its vaccination rate—that disparity has grown since the beginning of April to almost 5 percent in mid-May.82
Figure 4. Evictions Are More Commonly Filed Where There Are Fewer Vaccinated
Residents.83
82 Amy Harmon & Josh Holder, They Haven’t Gotten a Covid Vaccine Yet. But They Aren’t ‘Hesitant’
Either, N.Y. TIMES (May 12, 2021) https://nyti.ms/3wB8bGz.
83 Jin, Lemmerman & Hepburn, supra note 21.
17
Figure 5. Renters behind on rent are disproportionately unvaccinated—and want the
vaccine.84
70%
Vaccination status of renters and homeowners, Household Pulse
Survey May 12 - May 24
67%
Unvaccinated
57%
60%
50%
Unvaccinated and probably or definitely want vaccine
43%
40%
30%
27%
25%
20%
10%
10%
14%
25%
7%
19%
7%
16%
4%
3%
Percent
0%
Behind on rent Behind on rent Behind on rent Behind on rent Rent and not
Home owner Home owner, no
and eviction very and eviction and eviction not and eviction not behind on rent with mortgage
mortgage
likely (n=202) somewhat likely
very likely
likely at all
(n=11,366)
(n=27,320)
(n=16,063)
(n=363)
(n=443)
(n=388)
Housing security
Barriers to vaccination prevent over 13 million Americans who want to receive
the COVID-19 vaccine from being vaccinated.85 Over half of these have no college
education, have children in their household, or (just under half) earn less than
$74,999 a year.86 A range of obstacles slows their vaccination: They are unable to get
away from work, do not have a convenient vaccination site in their neighborhood, face
some kind of language barrier, or did not have time or access to the Internet to schedule a vaccination.87 The stress and displacement following eviction may make it difficult for families to make and keep vaccination appointments.
Groups that face the highest risk of eviction, like single mothers, have borne
the brunt of the pandemic’s economic consequences. School closure drove massive
84 U.S. CENSUS BUREAU, supra note 7 at Housing Table 1b and Health Table 5.
85 Id. at Health Table 5.
86 Id.
87 Harmon & Holder, supra note 82.
18
gaps in workforce participation based on gender—while all mothers lost jobs at
roughly 150% the rate of fathers at the beginning of the pandemic, single mothers
faced 200% job loss.88 These inequities persist.89 Single mothers with children face
the highest rates of eviction.90
Even if vaccination barriers were removed, children under 12 remain ineligible
for vaccines and at risk of COVID-19 infection. Almost four million children have
tested positive for COVID-19—14.1% of all cases in the United States. 91 With one in
five renter households with children behind on rent as of May 10,92 children are especially vulnerable to eviction and its immediate and long-term health effects.
Barriers to vaccination persist in the areas with the highest eviction rates and
increased risk of COVID-19 spread due to eviction—as well as the long-term, negative
health impacts of eviction—remains high.
III.
Eviction and COVID-19 Disproportionately Harm Marginalized
Groups
A. Evictions Disparately Affect Groups Based on Race, Gender, and Sexual
Orientation
Historic trends and recent data demonstrate that people of color are more
likely to face eviction during the pandemic. The most comprehensive study of millions
88 Lauren Bauer, Mothers are Being Left Behind in the Economic Recovery from COVID-19, HAMIL-
TON PROJECT (May 6, 2021) https://bit.ly/2SpUgVlL.
89 Id.
90 See Section III.A.
91 AM. ACAD. OF PEDIATRICS, Children and COVID-19: State-Level Data Report (May 20, 2021)
https://bit.ly/34ny6FD.
92 Tracking the COVID-19 Recession’s Effects on Food, Housing, and Employment Hardships, CTR. ON
BUDGET & POL’Y PRIORITIES, https://bit.ly/34ojru0 (last updated May 20, 2021).
19
of eviction records in 39 states finds clear racial and gender disparities in eviction
filings and judgments,93 with Black renters facing eviction at the highest rates of any
racial group.94 The loss of employment or an unexpected emergency can precipitate
housing instability. Over 70% of Black and Latinx adults entered the pandemic lacking emergency funds to cover three months of expenses compared to half of white
adults.95
Evictions during the COVID-19 pandemic also pose a disproportionate threat
to the LGBT community, and particularly LGBT people of color. Recent research
shows that 12.4% of LGBT individuals report being laid-off during the pandemic,
compared to 7.8% of non-LGBT respondents.96 As a result of such economic insecurity,
19.9% of LGBT respondents report difficulty making rent or mortgage payments,
compared to just 11.7% of non-LGBT individuals.97 LGBT people of color are more
than three times as likely to face difficulty making housing payments than their nonLGBT white peers.98
Without government interventions like the CDC order, the eviction crisis will
be immediate and precipitous for millions of Americans. During this severe economic
downturn, eviction may represent the end of financial stability, housing security, and
93 Hepburn, Louis & Desmond, supra note 47.
94 Benjamin F. Teresa, RVA Eviction Lab, The Geography of Eviction in Richmond: Beyond Poverty
(2017), https://bit.ly/3iFEmxu; Deena Greenberg, Carl Gershenson & Matthew Desmond, Discrimination in Evictions: Empirical Evidence and Legal Challenges, 51 HARV. C.R-C.L. L. REV. 115
(2016).
95 Mark Hugo Lopez et al., Financial and Health Impacts of COVID-19 Vary Widely by Race and Ethnicity, PEW RES. CTR. (May 5, 2020), https://pewrsr.ch/3xltflK.
96 Brad Sears, Kerith J. Conron & Andrew R. Flores, The Impact of the Fall 2020 COVID-19 Surge on
LGBT Adults in the US, UCLA SCH. L. WILLIAMS INST. (Feb. 2021), bit.ly/2QgjiWd.
97 Id.
98 Id.
20
safety from COVID-19 infection and mortality for many families and historically marginalized communities.99
B. COVID-19 Has Killed Black, Indigenous, and Latinx People at Higher Rates
COVID-19 has disproportionately harmed people of color. The CDC reports
Black, Indigenous Americans, and Hispanic/Latinx persons face an infection rate at
least 1.1, 1.6, and 2.0 times the rate of non-Hispanic whites, respectively.100 Black
and Hispanic/Latinx persons are 2.9 and 3.3 times more likely to be hospitalized with
COVID-19, respectively. 101 COVID-19 death rates are similarly stark: 1.9 times
higher for Black people, 2.3 times for Hispanic and Latinx people,102 and 2.4 times for
Indigenous people than whites.103 Of the population who died of between the ages of
35 and 44, almost half were Hispanic/Latinx and a quarter were Black.104 Further,
non-white children are dying from COVID-19 at over twice the rate of white children.105
These numbers are driven by deep underlying health disparities related to the
inability to social-distance in many low-wage jobs, crowded living conditions due to
poverty and eviction, bias among health care providers, disparate access to health
99 Benfer et al., supra note 35, Fig. 2.
100 COVID-19 Hospitalization and Death by Race/Ethnicity, CTRS. FOR DISEASE CONTROL & PREV.
(Apr. 16, 2021), https://bit.ly/3mYlSeu.
101 Id.
102 Id.
103 The Color of Coronavirus: COVID-19 Deaths by Race and Ethnicity in the U.S., APM RES. LAB
(Mar. 5, 2021), https://bit.ly/36K8ZPL (comparing white death rate of 150 per 100,000 with Indigenous people death rate of 256 per 100,000).
104 500 US COVID-19 Deaths, Explained in 8 Charts and Maps, VOX (Feb. 16, 2021),
https://bit.ly/3xpcqWW.
105 Understanding the Data, THE COVKID PROJECT (Mar. 6, 2021), https://bit.ly/3nhkhBz.
21
care, among other social determinants of health.106 The available state-level data on
racial disparities underscores these national disparities. 107 Eviction during the
COVID-19 pandemic perpetuates health inequity among Black, Hispanic/Latinx people, and women.108
Protecting public health during this pandemic requires protecting those most
likely to contract, spread, and die from COVID-19, especially people in poverty and
people of color, who are more likely to face barriers to vaccination, be evicted, and
suffer severe harm during the pandemic. Public health requires that all people are
protected from COVID-19.
CONCLUSION
The Applicants’ request to overturn the District Court’s stay should be denied.
106 Emily A. Benfer, Seema Mohapatra, Lindsay F. Wiley & Ruqaiijah Yearby, Health Justice Strate-
gies to Combat the Pandemic: Eliminating Discrimination, Poverty, and Health Inequity During and
After COVID-19, 19 YALE J. HEALTH POL’Y L. & ETHICS 122 (2020), https://bit.ly/2GzVW9c.
107 See, e.g., Racial Data Dashboard, COVID TRACKING PROJECT, https://bit.ly/2QvDF1t (showing disproportionately higher rates of infection and death for non-whites relative to percentage of population by state).
108 Benfer et al., supra note 35 at nn.82–96.
22
Respectfully submitted,
EMILY A. BENFER
Visiting Professor of Law
Wake Forest University School
of Law
1834 Wake Forest Road
Winston-Salem, NC 27109
(336) 758-5430
benfere@wfu.edu
June 2021
23
/s/ J.L. Pottenger, Jr.
J.L. POTTENGER, JR.
Nathan Baker Clinical
Professor of Law
Counsel of Record
Jerome N. Frank Legal Services
Organization
Yale Law School
127 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
(203) 432-4800
j.pottenger@ylsclinics.org
On behalf of:
AMERICAN ACADEMY OF PEDIATRICS
DANYA E. KEENE
Associate Professor of Public Health
Yale University
AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
CHILDREN’S HEALTHWATCH
KATHRYN M. LEIFHEIT
Postdoctoral Fellow in Public Health
and Epidemiology
University of California – Los Angeles
GLMA: HEALTH PROFESSIONALS
ADVANCING LGBTQ EQUALITY
MEDICAL SOCIETY OF THE DISTRICT OF
COLUMBIA
MICHAEL Z. LEVY
Associate Professor of Epidemiology
University of Pennsylvania
NATIONAL HISPANIC MEDICAL
ASSOCIATION
SABRIYA A. LINTON
Assistant Professor of Mental Health
Johns Hopkins University
NATIONAL MEDICAL ASSOCIATION
NORTH CAROLINA PEDIATRIC SOCIETY
KIM M. BLANKENSHIP
Professor of Sociology
American University
WENDY PARMET
Matthews Distinguished University
Professor of Law & Professor of
Public Policy and Urban Affairs
Northeastern University
KATHERINE L. CHEN
National Clinician Scholars Program
Fellow
University of California – Los
Angeles
CRAIG E. POLLACK
Katey Ayres Endowed Associate
Professor of Public Health, Nursing,
and Medicine
Johns Hopkins University
MATTHEW DESMOND
Maurice P. During Professor of Sociology
Princeton University
JULIA RAIFMAN
Assistant Professor of Health Law,
Policy, & Management
Boston University
GREGG GONSALVES
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology of
Microbial Diseases
Yale University
DAVID VLAHOV
Professor of Nursing & Professor of
Epidemiology and Microbial Diseases
Yale University
PETER HEPBURN
Assistant Professor of Sociology and
Anthropology
Rutgers University
24
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