Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) this week introduced legislation to permanently extend the Protecting Tenants at Foreclosure Act (PTFA), drawing praise from The National Housing Law Project, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty and the National Low Income Housing Coalition.

“Without federal protections in place, many renters in foreclosed properties are vulnerable to summary eviction — and homelessness. In nearly half the states, these renters can be evicted with five days’ notice or less, through no fault of their own,” Law Center Executive Director Maria Foscarinis said in a statement. “The PTFA provides critical protection to responsible renters whose homes have been foreclosed upon.”

The PTFA, enacted in 2009, was the only federal protection for renters living in foreclosed properties. Though foreclosures remain a common occurrence, Congress failed to extend the PTFA law and it expired on Dec. 31, 2014.

The law provided most renters with the right to at least to 90 days’ notice before being required to move after foreclosure. Now renters, who often have no idea that their landlords are behind on mortgage payments, can be evicted with just a few days’ notice in most states.