It is undeniable that people are hurting from COVID. It is also untenable that one of the continued solutions is an ongoing moratorium on evictions. Such a policy would seem to be blatantly unconstitutional.
A national moratorium on evictions picks winners and losers by government fiat by preferring one population (renters) over another population (landlords). The moratorium continues to allow people to live in their spaces without paying what they are contractually obligated to pay, putting the landlord at a loss. Would the same people championing this policy support the government letting people take food from a grocery store without paying for the food? How about taking clothing from a store without paying for it? It is the same thing. Those who argue that there is a moral right to housing would be hard pressed not to agree that this is also a moral right to food and clothing as well. Put it another way, the moratorium allows renters to consume their rental space for free that they would otherwise be purchasing through the payment of rent. What gives the government the right, therefore, to tell people they are allowed to consume their product — be it food, clothes, or rental property — without just compensation?
Originally, the moratorium was declared as a hedge against a perceived health hazard, namely that if people are evicted, they could contribute to the spread of COVID, and from this line of thinking was the flimsiest constitutional justification for the policy. If therefore, the government wants to assume the responsibility for avoiding an even bigger health emergency, it is only just that the government should cover the cost of the loss or rent to the landlord or guarantee that the rent is paid. You can’t have it both ways. The current policy is utterly ludicrous and puts many landlords at financial risk and ruin.