Cori Bush, a Fighter for the Unhoused

Bush, a freshman Democrat from St. Louis who’s herself experienced evictions and homelessness, galvanized pressure on Biden’s administration to act after it punted the problem to Congress, where intraparty Democratic squabbling stymied action. Her sleepover, in which other progressive politicians participated, helped keep about 11 million people in their homes, at least temporarily, after Biden ordered the extension on Aug. 3.

At first it appeared as if the move would buy two more months for Congress to get billions of dollars in federal funding to those who’ve lost work in the pandemic—money whose distribution had been slowed by bureaucratic delays. But then the Supreme Court blocked the extension. It will likely take a while for the backlog of eviction cases to displace renters, but some states, including several in the South, have fewer protections for tenants. In September, Bush and Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) introduced a bill to give the Department of Health and Human Services permanent authority to enact an eviction ban during public-health crises.