Photo by Gage Skidmore | CC BY-SA 2.0

In one of the first acts of his new administration, President Joe Biden extended the federal eviction and foreclosure moratorium though March 31 as he prepares to ask Congress for an additional extension through September.

Almost 12 percent of homeowners with mortgages are late on their payments, while 19 percent of renters are behind, according to a Census Bureau survey of households.

The federal moratoriums would ensure that people could stay in their homes even if they cannot afford their monthly bills, administration officials say. Massachusetts courts have so far interpreted the federal moratorium as permitting eviction cases to be filed and litigated, but not allowing evictions to be executed once a judgement has been obtained.

National rental housing industry groups greeted Biden’s decision with mixed praise and concern.

“The National Multifamily Housing Council (NMHC) and the National Apartment Association (NAA) appreciate President Biden’s prompt and well-intended action to address the ongoing financial struggle of our nation’s 40 million renters,” the two organizations said in a joint statement. “However, NMHC and NAA continue to raise serious concerns about eviction moratoriums because they do not address underlying financial distress and leave households accumulating insurmountable levels of debt.”

Biden is also calling on Congress to extend billions in new assistance to renters and their landlords as part of his $1.9 trillion “American Rescue Plan,” which could be filed as proposed legislation with Congress soon.

While the moratoriums have aided several million Americans during the pandemic and helped to contain the disease, they have also meant that billions of dollars in housing costs have gone unpaid. A $900 billion federal COVID-19 aid package passed and signed by former President Donald Trump in recent weeks channeled around $450 million to Massachusetts’ own rental assistance fund.

The NMHC and NAA said they were “deeply concerned” by the $1.9 trillion plan’s inclusion of a nine-month extension of the eviction moratorium.

“Allocated rental assistance funds do not fully address the $70 billion in outstanding debt nor accruing debt moving forward. The industry simply cannot continue operation under these policies without disastrous harm to housing affordability,” the groups said. “Additional financial support is urgently needed to prevent displacement, stabilize millions of Americans who continue to struggle under the weight of COVID-19 financial impacts and ensure rental housing providers can continue operations and keep their residents stably housed.”