Detroit’s 36th District Court adopts CDC’s moratorium on evictions

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The Detroit 36 ​​District Court announced a couple of significant eviction orders this week.

The court initially held that the new moratorium on evictions of the US Centers for Disease Control did not apply to Wayne County. The moratorium is based on the local transmission levels of COVID-19.

But that changed quickly, and on Wednesday, 36 District Chief Justice William McConico issued a statement saying that there will be no immediate effect of residential evictions for non-payment of rent in the city of Detroit.

Data provided in the CDC order shows a strong correlation between high eviction rates in “socially vulnerable” areas and high community transmission of COVID-19, McConico said. This current moratorium on evictions is expected to save an untold number of lives by ensuring that residents can stay in their homes while the delta variant continues to spread rapidly across the nation. “

Joe McGuire, a Detroit Justice Center attorney who works on behalf of tenants in eviction cases, called this welcome news. But he said the way the CDC moratorium is structured to fluctuate according to COVID-19 cases is problematic.

It creates confusion, which is kind of an enemy of what you want in the law, McGuire said. You want predictability and consistency. You don’t want things to change from week to week depending on transmission speeds.

McGuire said the court has the power to declare a general moratorium on evictions, as did the 36th ward near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. He urged McConico to do the same until at least October, when the current CDC moratorium expires.

The court also announced that it will stop handling eviction proceedings for Detroit owners who are not registered or have no certificates of compliance from the city. Detroit has tried to intensify landlord law enforcement efforts in recent years, but the vast majority of rental properties remain non-compliant. According to the city, only just over 9,000 rental properties are registered in the city and only about 5,200 have certificates of compliance.

McGuire said housing advocates have been pushing for such a policy for years and this change is a big deal.

Now, in order for those landlords to use the Detroit court to evict their tenants, they have to prove they’re following the law on their own, McGuire said. Which I think is entirely fair. Now the challenge is to make sure it is actually implemented, because I am sure they will receive the rejection of the owners.

The 36th district court handled about 20,000 eviction cases in 2019. They dropped to just 2,500 in 2020 and there were about 500 in the pipeline before the two new orders, according to a court spokesman.

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