(Natural News) In response to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19), Congress passed a temporary moratorium on evictions. On Sept. 1, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with the help of the Department for Health and Human Services (HHS), published an order that created a second, more expansive eviction moratorium. The National Apartment Association (NAA) — a trade group of apartment owners —  and individual landlords are suing in federal court because they believe the eviction moratorium is unconstitutional.

On March 27, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, which included a limited and temporary moratorium on evictions for tenants living in certain types of federally supported housing. This moratorium expired on July 24.

However, the Trump administration, with the help of the CDC, issued a new moratorium entitled "Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent Further Spread of COVID-19." This new moratorium, which went into effect on Sept. 4 and lasts until the end of the year, covers almost all renters across the United States. (Related: California just declared war on property owners by banning evictions, allowing people who don't pay rent to occupy homes they don't own.)

The moratorium allows tenants to stay in their rented property if they notify their landlord that they recently had to deal with large medical bills, a loss of income or are ineligible to receive financial assistance from the government. They further have to argue that, if they were to be evicted, they would be forced into homelessness or a different kind of unsafe living situation.

The moratorium covers renters who earn less than $99,000 a year. The CDC states that property owners who try to defy the eviction moratorium could be sent to jail for up to a year and be made to pay a fine of up to $250,000.