CREFC's State Legislation and Policy Tracker

At the outset of the COVID pandemic, many state and local governments implemented temporary limitations on numerous government functions, including processing eviction and foreclosure actions. As governments and courts began to reopen, some eviction and foreclosure moratoriums were maintained as a temporary relief measure for residential and commercial tenants and owners. While the CDC’s national eviction moratorium provides some level of protection to distressed residential tenants, all but a handful of commercial moratoriums have expired. The resulting patchwork of state policies means lenders and owners must carefully consider what actions they can and cannot take in particular markets to protect their CRE investments. 
 
CREFC’s State Policy Tracker monitors state policy developments affecting commercial and multifamily real estate in response to the pandemic, including eviction and foreclosure moratoriums, proposed and passed legislation, and executive orders. The State Policy Tracker also includes a comparison of key provisions in residential eviction moratoriums, which analyzes the National Eviction Moratorium and state moratoriums in California, New York, Illinois, and Oregon.
 
Most notably, New York State has maintained a statewide moratorium on commercial evictions and foreclosures via executive order since spring 2020.  The NY legislature is considering proposals to extend a more targeted version of that moratorium through May 1. In June 2020, Oregon passed one of the most restrictive laws in the nation that prevented lenders from foreclosing and taking routine actions in the case of default against commercial borrowers. The Oregon foreclosure moratorium expired at yearend 2020 although an eviction moratorium was extended through June.