The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put a new ban in place for evictions last week, but that didn’t stop a lot of people from losing their homes. The New York Times reports, “Many local governments and courts were not sure how to apply the extension of the protections, and dockets in some places overflowed with evictions.”

In extending the moratorium last week, the Biden administration hinged it to high local coronavirus infection rates — the idea being that protection was warranted in areas where the virus was surging. Clark County, including Las Vegas, was among hundreds of counties that meet the criterion for high infection rates, but the C.D.C. guidelines gave some leeway to judges to instead apply state laws, which at times allowed for evictions.

The CDC extension gave states additional time to distribute tens of billions of dollars in unspent federal aid to renters and landlords. That money was approved months ago, but red tape has led to crippling delays.

According to the ABC affiliate in Tampa, Florida, the Sunshine State was allotted $871 million dollars for rental assistance, but just $23.2 million has been paid out, “that amounts to less than 3%.” The agency overseeing the program in that state blames paperwork issues for the lack of assistance going out. The TV station spoke with one tenant who was thrown out of her apartment last week.  Shamika Jenkins says she and her child “wound up living in their SUV after the moratorium expired on July 31.”

There are also questions over whether the new ban is legally sound. The federal moratorium expired on August 1st. The new action offers a two-month reprieve for renters, forbidding evictions until October 3. But according to NBC News:

A federal judge in Washington seemed skeptical Monday that the Biden administration’s new moratorium on evictions can survive a legal challenge brought by a group of landlords.

“It’s really hard to conclude that there’s not a degree of gamesmanship going on,” said Judge Dabney Friedrich of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Times says Las Vegas is already overflowing with eviction cases.

Tenants had to actively file for protection under the C.D.C. measures, but many of them were unaware of that. And as eviction proceedings rolled forward, some landlords won, citing reasons other than nonpayment of rent for seeking to remove tenants.

More than 1.4 million Americans expect to be evicted in the next two months, according to a survey completed by the U.S. Census Bureau in early July. For another 2.2 million people, the prospect is “somewhat likely.”