Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Rep. Cori Bush is getting her due recognition after she slept on the Capitol steps in protest of the federal eviction moratorium expiring.
The St. Louis native took to the steps to urge her colleagues to do something as millions of Americans were at risk of facing homelessness after the CDC eviction moratorium expired over the weekend. Other lawmakers and local activists joined her sleep-out protest, raising awareness of the seriousness of eviction, and getting a 60-day extension passed by the White House.
“We just did the work –– just by loving folks –- to keep millions in their homes,” Bush said, according to The Washington Post. Bush, a Congress newcomer, has personally experienced homelessness and recalled sleeping in her car with her two young children nearly 20 years ago.
“I’m a formerly unhoused Congresswoman, and I know that people will die if we let the eviction moratorium expire,” Bush tweeted July 30 before taking her movement to the Capitol steps.
On Tuesday (August 3), the White House announced a federal 60-day eviction moratorium in US counties with “substantial and high levels of community transmission,” according to a news release from the CDC. Given the surge in the COVID-19 Delta variant, renters in about 90% of the country qualify for the extension which lasts through October 3.
Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Housing advocates are also pressing lawmakers to step in to prevent evictions from hitting people’s credit reports, which would add to the obstacles of securing stable housing.
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