A federal appeals court in Washington, DC on Wednesday denied a request by a group of landlords to resume evictions, leaving the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) nationwide eviction moratorium in place. The matter may go to the Supreme Court.

The ruling from the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals follows last month’s action by U.S. District Judge Dabney Friedrich, who ruled that CDC had overstepped its authority. However, Friedrich issued a temporary stay to allow time for the Biden administration to appeal.

At the National Multifamily Housing Council, CEO Doug Bibby noted on Wednesday, “While federal policymakers ultimately provided $46.5 billion for emergency rental assistance, the continuation of eviction moratoriums has renewed focus on broader questions of eviction practices, as well as raised concerns about the disruption in the market once the moratoriums expire. Our research shows that reliable and complete data on evictions is severely lacking and may not be realistically obtainable due to the disaggregated nature of court records and eviction reporting.”

The scarcity of quality national data “speaks to the hazard of one-size-fits-all federal policy solutions,” Bibby added. “The highly individualized nature of eviction proceedings and laws, along with locality-specific conditions that exacerbate housing instability like affordability and housing supply, calls for state and local solutions.

In addition, rental housing is dominated by non-institutional, ‘mom and pop” property owners,” he continued. “When eviction moratoria policies are treated as ‘rental holidays,’ these individual property owners tend to suffer disproportionately – as do renters, who end up with fewer options.”