Court and housing officials brace for a wave of evictions now that moratorium is over
Cary SpivakCourts and housing officials nationwide are ramping up to deal with millions of tenants who are on the verge of losing their homes now that the federal eviction moratorium has expired.
The question is will it be a tsunami or merely a flood of evictions.
"Pick any term you want —it's going to be bad," said Matt Mleczko, a graduate research assistant at Princeton University's Eviction Lab. The Eviction Lab was founded by Matthew Desmond, who wrote "Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City" after studying the situation in Milwaukee.
There are "upwards of ten million adult renters behind on their rent," said Mleczko, who based his calculation on the US Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey,
That report found that nearly 25% of the renters surveyed have slight or no confidence in their ability to pay next month's rent. In addition the non-partisan Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that one out of seven tenants are behind on their rent.
In Wisconsin, the Census Bureau found that about 21% of the renters surveyed had slight or no confidence in their ability to pay next month's rent.
"Those are staggering numbers," Mleczko said. "It's clear that there are still a staggering amount of people facing the risk of eviction."
Many of those people have been protected from evictions since Sept. 4 when the federal Centers for Disease Control and Protection imposed a moratorium that prevented many evictions from occurring. That moratorium expired Saturday.
Bid in Congress to extend moratorium fails
The Biden administration announced Thursday it would allow the nationwide ban to expire, saying it wanted to extend it due to rising infections but its hands were tied after the U.S. Supreme Court signaled in June that it wouldn’t be extended beyond the end of July without congressional action.
House lawmakers on Friday attempted, but failed, to pass a bill to extend the moratorium even for a few months. Some Democratic lawmakers had wanted it extended until the end of the year.
Social Service agencies such as the Social Development Commission are doling out millions of dollars in rent assistance payments in the hopes of keeping a roof over the heads of tenants who have lost jobs or had their income slashed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nationally, governments and social service agencies have been criticized for the sluggish pace of distributing even though the money is desperately needed by tenants and landlords — two groups that have been hard hit by the economic fallout caused by the pandemic.
"People are on the brink and they need that money," said Raphael Ramos, head of the Eviction Defense Project. "They should access it as soon as they can."
George Hinton, chief executive at the Social Development Commission, said the agency is working with tenants to ensure forms are filled out correctly so they could be processed quickly.
"We got people working overtime, we're adding people," Hinton said. "We're pushing out money as fast as we can."
In the past year SDC has distributed more than $20 million in rent assistance and it has $6 million more to distribute, said Kim Brooks, agency spokesperson.
An additional $25 million in rent assistance has been paid since June 2020 by Community Advocates, a nonprofit that also works with cash-strapped and low-income tenants. The agency has an additional $6 million on hand but estimates it will need about $80 million to meet the needs through September 2022, said Deb Heffner, Community Advocates housing strategy director.
The rent assistance money are federal dollars that flow through the state. Nearly $46 million of the $322 million in federal funding received by the state in February has been distributed to more than 12,500 households to date, according to a state Department of Administration spokesperson. The funds can be used for rent and utility payments.
The state expects to receive an additional $250 million through the federal Emergency Rental Assistance program.
Early signs eviction filings are rising
Despite the millions in rent assistance, court officials are bracing for an increase in eviction filings now that tenants are no longer protected by the moratorium.
"We hope and pray that the (eviction) numbers don’t increase to pre-COVID levels, said Maudwell Kirkendoll, chief operating officer at Community Advocates.
Colleen Foley, executive director at the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee, notes that about 160 eviction suits were filed in Milwaukee County Circuit Court in each of the last two weeks, a significant increase over what was filed in each of the previous three weeks.
"It feels a little foreboding to me," Foley said.
The eviction moratorium did not ban all evictions. It only covered tenants who met certain criteria, which included a substantial loss of income or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses. Tenants had to sign a declaration swearing they met the criteria of the moratorium in order to be shielded from evictions.
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Nearly 1,500 eviction orders — about a third of the historical average — were issued in Milwaukee County during the moratorium, said Branden DuPont, lead eviction researcher for the Medical College of Wisconsin. More than 6,000 eviction suits — about half the historical average — were filed during the same period, DuPont said.
Mary Triggiano, Milwaukee County chief judge, said she hopes the availability of rent assistance money will help prevent eviction numbers from climbing back up.
"I expect more (eviction filings) but not convinced there will be a deluge," she said in an email.
Triggiano is preparing for an increase in eviction filing and hearings by making more judges and court commissioners available to work on eviction cases if needed.
Both Legal Aid and Legal Action have hired or are hiring additional attorneys who could help clients in eviction cases. In addition, the right to counsel program in Milwaukee County aimed at providing tenants facing eviction with attorneys is scheduled to begin on Sept. 1.
And, it appears that tenants are getting anxious about the end of the moratorium.
In recent days Legal Aid has been receiving more calls from potential clients, Foley said.
"It's a recognition that things are going to change in a hurry," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Contact Cary Spivak at (414) 550-0070 or cspivak@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cspivak or Facebook at facebook.com/cary.spivak
Where to get help
To contact the Milwaukee Rental Housing Resource Center visit www.renthelpmke.org or call (414) 895-7368 or email info@renthelpmke.org.
To contact Community Advocates visit communityadvocates.net or call (414) 270-4646 or email renthelp@communityadvocates.net.
To contact the Social Development Commission visit www.cr-sdc.org or call (414) 906-2700 to reach the headquarters at 1730 W. North Ave., or email info@cr-sdc.org.
To contact the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee visit lasmilwaukee.com or call (414) 727-5300 or email question@lasmilwaukee.com.
To contact Legal Action of Wisconsin office of Milwaukee visit www.legalaction.org or call (414) 278-7722.