Emergency Request Memo

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES Public Health Service

Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention (CDC)

Atlanta GA 30333

January 11, 2021

Dominic Mancini

Acting Deputy Director

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Washington, D.C.

Subject: Request for Emergency Clearance

Dear Mr. Mancini:

Pursuant to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) procedures established at 5 CFR 1320, Controlling Paperwork Burdens on the Public, I request that the following collection of information, Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19, be processed in accordance with section 1320.13 Emergency Processing.

There is currently a pandemic of a respiratory disease (“COVID-19”) caused by a novel coronavirus (SARS-COV-2) that has now spread globally, including cases reported in all fifty states within the United States plus the District of Columbia and U.S. territories (excepting American Samoa). As of August 24, 2020, there were over 23,000,000 cases of COVID-19 globally resulting in over 800,000 deaths; over 5,500,000 cases have been identified in the United States, with new cases being reported daily and over 174,000 deaths due to the disease.

Evictions threaten to increase the domestic spread of COVID-19 as they force people to move, often into new shared housing settings with friends or family, or congregate settings such as homeless shelters. The ability of these settings to adhere to best practices, such as social distancing and other infection control measures, decreases as populations increase. Unsheltered homelessness also increases the risk that individuals will experience severe illness from COVID-19. As many as 30–40 million people in America could be at risk of eviction.¹ A large portion of those who are evicted may move into close quarters, shared housing or, become homeless, thus contributing to the spread of COVID-19.

To respond to this public health threat, the federal, state, and local governments have taken unprecedented or exceedingly rare actions, including border closures, restrictions on travel, stay-at-home orders, mask requirements, and eviction moratoria. Despite these best efforts, COVID-19 continues to spread and further action is needed. Eviction moratoria—like quarantine, isolation, and social distancing—can be an effective public health measure utilized to prevent the spread of communicable disease. Eviction moratoria facilitate self-isolation by people who become ill or who are at risk for severe illness from COVID-19 due to an underlying medical condition. They also allow state and local authorities to more easily implement stay-at-home and social distancing directives to mitigate the community spread of COVID-19. Furthermore, housing stability helps protect public health because homelessness increases the likelihood of individuals moving into congregate settings, such as homeless shelters, which then puts individuals at higher risk to COVID-19.

As such, I have determined that this information must be collected prior to the expiration of time periods established under Part 1320, and that this information is essential to CDC’s ability to effectively address this public health emergency. CDC cannot reasonably comply with the normal clearance procedures due to the public harm that could result if routine processing of this request is required. CDC requests emergency clearance to allow tenants, lessees, or residents of residential properties to provide a copy of the declaration to the landlord, owner of the residential property, or other person who has a right to have the individual evicted or removed.

The information will not be collected by CDC nor will the data be used at the federal, state, or local levels. The declaration will be for notification purposes only and will be given to the landlord, owner of the residential property, or other person who has a right to have the individual evicted or removed. The information collected will be limited to the signature of the tenant, lessee, or resident. Absent this emergency approval CDC will not be able to facilitate, in a timely manner, the temporary halt in residential eviction.

Please provide an approval/disapproval determination of this request to collect information under an emergency clearance by close of business Monday, August 31, 2020.

Respectfully,

Jeffrey M. Zirger, Ph.D.,

Lead

Information Collection Review Office

Office of Science

Office of Scientific Integrity

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

1 See Emily Benfer, et al., The COVID-19 Eviction Crisis: An Estimated 30-40 Million People in America are at Risk, available at: https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-covid-19-eviction-crisis-an-estimated-30-40-million-people-in-america-are-at-risk/.