The Alabama Association of Realtors® (AAR) has filed a legal challenge to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Eviction Moratorium (Moratorium) in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. The legal complaint alleges the CDC has harmed housing providers, small business owners, and Realtor® members; taken private property for public use without just compensation; unconstitutionally deprived housing providers of property without due process; and denied housing providers access to seek redress in the courts and other claims for relief. The complaint requests declaratory relief setting aside the Moratorium, an injunction preventing further enforcement of the Moratorium, and other costs and damages.  AAR is joined in the legal challenge by the Georgia Association of Realtors®, Realtor® members, and their companies, who have been damaged by the government’s actions towards housing providers, as Plaintiffs. In addition to the CDC, Defendants include the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Justice, and individual representatives. 

While this pandemic has taken a devastating toll on families across Alabama and on our state’s overall economy, it is important that we take steps to ensure this public health and economic crisis does not also become a nationwide housing crisis. 

More than half a million Realtors® in America own at least one rental property, including many Alabama Realtors®.  And while this Association applauds every effort made to keep families in their homes, we believe any broad eviction prohibitions must come alongside rental assistance funding for Alabama’s housing providers, whose financial obligations and own livelihoods also remain at stake in light of the pandemic. AAR has requested Governor Ivey use a portion of the remaining federal CARES Act funds distributed to Alabama to set up a rental assistance program for temporary relief to assist both renters and housing providers. Corresponding rental assistance is needed at the federal level to accompany the eviction prohibitions. More information on the requests for rental assistance can be found here.

AAR is a strong advocate for private property rights. The federal government cannot seize a person’s land, their farm, their home, or their private property unlawfully and unconstitutionally without due process and just compensation afforded by the Constitution. Further, the federal government cannot block a person’s constitutional rights to access the courts, to seek redress, and to defend against the federal government’s unlawful takings in the court system.  

AAR will continue to advocate for our members and consumers for this critical need during the pandemic and in the months ahead. Rental assistance will help families across our state avoid eviction while also ensuring property owners can continue to provide housing to Alabamians in the months and years to come. Working alongside the National Association of Realtors® and other state and local Realtor® groups, AAR will continue to fight for a legitimate, sustainable solution on behalf of our members and all local housing providers.