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The Biden administration sprung into action this week after it faced growing pressure to stop a wave of Americans from being kicked out of their homes once the eviction ban expired next Wednesday. A group of 44 House Democrats on Tuesday urged the Biden administration to extend the moratorium to buy state and local officials more time to get rental aid out the door.

More than six million renter households are behind on rent, according to a recent survey by the Census Bureau. State and local programs have been overwhelmed with requests for rental assistance funds even as housing advocates report that plenty of renters and mom-and-pop landlords don’t know about the programs or are having trouble applying for them.

But officials signaled Thursday that the Biden administration was ready to move on from the sweeping housing relief programs stood up during the pandemic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is in charge of the eviction ban, said the latest extension of the 11-month moratorium was intended to be the last.

As part of the push, Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta planned to send a letter to state courts on Thursday encouraging them to adopt “anti-eviction diversion practices,” the White House said, including by issuing administrative orders requiring landlords to apply for rental assistance before filing for eviction.

The CDC first issued the eviction ban in September, citing a public health law that gives the agency certain powers to prevent communicable diseases from crossing state lines. Before Thursday, Congress and the White House had extended it three times.

Separate foreclosure bans that were also extended to July 31 on Thursday apply to homes with federally-backed mortgages.

Landlords have challenged the eviction moratorium in courts around the country. The Supreme Court has not acted yet on a petition by property owners to block a stay on overturning the ban. The coalition fighting the restrictions has said said landlords are losing more than $13 billion a month because of the moratorium.

Senate Banking Chair Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) applauded the administration’s decision Thursday.

“The eviction moratorium is providing essential protections to millions of renters during the pandemic,” he said. “It’s time for state and local grantees to remove unnecessary red tape and make sure that the funds Congress provided to help families stay in their homes get out to them quickly.”