Tenants scored a victory in the D.C. Court of Appeals on Thursday.

The court issued a stay pending appeal of a trial court’s decision that D.C.’s ban on eviction filing is unconstitutional — meaning the trial court’s decision will not go into effect as the appeals court reviews the case, and landlords will still be barred from filing eviction cases so long as D.C.’s moratorium on evictions remains in place.

The ruling comes as the D.C. Council prepares to vote on an extension of the city’s public health emergency and consider Chairman Phil Mendelson’s proposed changes to the current eviction ban, which some tenant advocates say will limit protections against evictions.

D.C. landlords challenged the council’s moratorium on eviction filings last year, arguing that it violated their rights of access to the courts. Evictions would still be barred during the public health emergency, but the landlords fighting the city’s law wanted the ability to begin the legal process by filing writs of evictions in court.

The trial court ruled in favor of landlords last year, stating that the filing moratorium did violate the landlords’ right to court access. The D.C. Attorney General’s office then appealed the trial court’s decision, defending the city’s law and asking for stay pending appeal.

The appeals court’s ruling, issued Thursday, argues that the District made a “strong argument” that the filing moratorium didn’t restrict court access, and that there would be “irreparable harm” to tenants if the trial court’s ruling in favor of landlords was allowed to stand. Even though the trial court’s ruling didn’t allow landlords to evict their tenants, its decision could encourage a tenant to move anyway – out of fear, misunderstanding, or the knowledge that they can’t afford legal representation to fight the eviction, the appeals court ruled.

“The kind of overall messages from the court about this is: everything has been put on hold to allow tenants to stabilize, by getting their job back, by getting unemployment benefits, by applying for rental assistance…and that’s good for tenants and landlords,” says Beth Mellen, an attorney with the Legal Aid Society of the District of Columbia. “If tenants can get their jobs back and pay back money…then that will benefit both the landlords and the tenants.”

Meanwhile, Mendelson issued amendments on Thursday to the city’s eviction and utility moratoriums, which the council will consider next week when it convenes to vote on granting D.C Mayor Muriel Bowser the authority to extend the public health emergency through July 25. (The city’s moratorium and utility moratoriums are tied to the current public health emergency, which is set to end on May 20.)

Under one amendment, the blanket utility moratorium would only extend to individuals who are currently on a public assistance program and receiving utility assistance from the city — a move to get more people to seek financial help for missed payments. (Mendelson floated this idea around last year, but later dropped the proposal).

Mendelson also wants to encourage tenants and landlords to enroll in the STAY DC program, a replacement for D.C.’s old COVID-19 Housing Assistance Program (CHAP), which helps renters and housing providers cover unpaid rental payments as well as utilities like water, gas, and electricity.

Per Mendelson’s proposal, a landlord could only file an eviction case after they had completed an application to receive funding from STAY DC to cover a tenant’s overdue rent. Then, a tenant would need to complete that application for STAY DC (or have a community organization complete it on their behalf) to receive the relief money, thus making an eviction unnecessary.

“The focus of these amendments is to protect low income utility customers and renters, but encourage utilization of federal assistance,” reads Mendelson’s introduction of the measures. “The effect will be to increase utilization of the federal money – much of which will be taken back by the federal government if not obligated over the next four months.  And, more importantly, the low income households will come out of the pandemic with little or no debt to their landlords and the utility companies.”

While the appeals court ruling is a victory for tenants, Mellen is less thrilled about Mendelson’s proposal, given the technological barriers to tenants and the rollout of STAY DC so far. Mellen argues the website isn’t set up in a way that makes it easy for a landlord to initiate the STAY DC application process, and that for Mendelson’s proposal to work on behalf of tenants, the website would need an overhaul.

“It’s really important that the landlord application process works,” Mellen says. “The idea that we’re going to depend on this system for landlords to be able to apply and kind of protect tenants in that way, there’s a lot of concern from what we’re seeing so far.”

In its first 30 days, STAY DC has fielded over 10,000 applications, and Mellen says she is not aware of any payments being made to tenants. Only in the last few days did Legal Aid Society receive responses to the applications they filled out on behalf of tenants.

“It all needs to be fixed, we agree that these are the changes that need to be made,” Mellen says of shifting financial assistance opportunities to landlords. “The question is, are they going to be able to pivot, make these changes, and have it so landlords can do the applications and actually have the system work?”

Also of concern to Mellen is the possibility that Bowser may opt not to extend the public health emergency — and by extent, D.C.’s protections for renters — given her recent steps towards a full reopening and return to “normal.”

“She’s already talked about relaxing certain things in June. So what’s going to happen?” Mellen says.

The ruling in favor of tenants and Mendelson’s legislation changes come a little over a week after a federal judge threw out the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s eviction moratorium — the immediate impacts of which have yet to play out for local tenants. D.C. renters are protected under the city’s legislation, while Virginia requires landlords and tenants to work together to access rent relief before an eviction can proceed (much like Mendelson’s proposal). In Maryland, an executive order from Gov. Larry Hogan provides limited legal defense to residents facing eviction over missed rent during the pandemic.