The 43-year old hairdresser received a letter from her landlord last month stating that her March lease was being cancelled. It was seven months earlier than expected and she had no explanation.
“I am really pissed about this. King said that she thought she would feel comfortable again in her home after the pandemic, but now she worries about finding a new apartment. “Here, I’m back up against the wall without anywhere to stay. “I don’t know what to do.”
The $46.5 billion Emergency Rent Assistance Program has helped to prevent eviction crises, but some tenants like King are being threatened with eviction once again, sometimes just days after receiving federal assistance. Many tenants are struggling to find affordable housing.
It is a Band Aid. It was never intended to be anything other than a Band Aide,” Erin Willoughby of Clayton Housing Legal Resource Center Atlanta stated about the program.
“It doesn’t solve the root problem, which is a shortage of affordable housing. She said that people are responsible for paying rents they can’t afford. “It is impossible to find something less expensive because there is no cheaper option. People need to be housed somewhere.
In a survey of almost 120 civil rights advocates and legal aid lawyers, the National Housing Law Project found that 86% of respondents had reported instances in which landlords refused or accepted money, but still attempted to evict tenants. Survey results also showed a marked increase in landlords lying to tenants in court in order to evict them and locking them out.
Natalie N. Maxwell is a senior lawyer with the group. She stated that there were a number of issues to be concerned with landlord fraud.
Bob Pinnegar, President and CEO of the National Apartment Association, stated that the survey was not based upon facts. He also said that members do everything possible to keep tenants in their homes. This includes lobbying for rental assistance to be granted faster.
“Skewed surveys don’t reflect the whole situation. In a statement, Pinnegar stated that the rental housing industry has generally gone to great lengths for residents, even when it comes rental assistance and adherence with laws and regulations.
Interviews with legal aid lawyers across the country revealed a steady rise in cases where tenants were granted rental assistance but still faced eviction.
This includes a mother of a baby and two children from Florida who received rental assistance. However, the landlord refused to pay the money and the tenant was ordered to evict the child. In an attempt to force an eviction, another Florida landlord claimed she had not received the money.
Lawyers also said that there have been cases in Texas and Georgia where landlords receiving assistance tried to terminate leases before they could be paid, raised rents to an unaffordable level, or found other reasons to evict someone.
“As it stands right now, it doesn’t seem to work as intended,” Tori Tavormina said, a Texas Housers eviction prevention specialist. It feels more like it is a program that relieves the pressure of the crisis, but does not solve the root problems.
Shera Grant, District Court Judge in Birmingham, Alabama who deals with housing cases, stated that she has seen an increase in the number of landlords seeking assistance and coming back to court just a few weeks after a tenant falls behind on rent. They have so far prevented them, but she anticipates an increase in these types of cases.
She said, “It’s incumbent upon the judges to ensure that we are paying close to our eviction proceedings and making sure the landlord isn’t having their cake and eating it too.” “We are not forcing landlords into taking the money. In some cases, the tenant may have to be evicted.
King believes that her landlord was reacting to her earlier complaints about mold and water leaking from her three-bedroom home. King’s company, NDI Maxim which manages property for owners, stated that it was not allowed to disclose details about tenants’ payment records or their status.
Another factor that complicates cases is the duration of the pandemic as well as conflicting accounts between landlord and tenant. They often leave both sides feeling let down
Prince Beatty, a landlord who received more than $20,000 in rental assistance from him, is about to be evicted from his East Point, Georgia house with three bedrooms.
Beatty signed a court agreement late last year to repay several thousand dollars he owed in order to continue living with his family. Beatty sought additional assistance from the county to pay the balance, but was denied. The 47-year-old Navy vet couldn’t find work in warehouses during the pandemic and now owes $12,000. This is partly due to his rent rising from $1,250 per month to $2,000.
Beatty was informed he would be expelled this month. He said that he wakes up in panic every morning, wondering if this is the day when the marshals will “come and disrespect me stuff and throw it on the street.”
Monique Jones, his landlord, claimed that Beatty tried to work with her. She said that Beatty had violated her lease by subletting rooms out to other people. The amount of rental assistance was not enough to cover the rent arrears from months before the pandemic.
She said that the rental assistance was “helpful but did not address his underlying issue, which was his non-payment of rent.” “That is why I am continuing. If I have a tenant that will pay rent and adhere to the lease, I wouldn’t attempt to evict them.”
Some states and localities fail to follow Treasury Department guidance, which requires landlords to delay evictions until they receive money. This can often lead to limitations in rental assistance. The program prohibits landlords from evicting tenants during the rental assistance period, but the Treasury Department can only encourage states that prohibit evictions for at least three months.
According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, only 29 states and cities in 2021 had policies that prohibited landlords from evicting tenants during the rental assistance program. These policies were in place for a period of 30 days up to 12 months. Six states, including Arizona, Kentucky and Louisiana, New York and North Carolina, as well as West Virginia, West Virginia, West Virginia, and North Carolina, passed regulations, while many counties or cities in Texas and Maryland did.
Gene Sperling is responsible for overseeing the implementation of President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus rescue plan. He said that although there is no evidence to suggest that landlords are evicting tenants when they get assistance, it is “completely unacceptable”.
He said that while it is not against the letter of an act, it was against its spirit.
The Coalition stated that the program’s problems are indicative of a bigger problem.
CEO Diane Yentel stated that “we are in the middle a severe affordability housing crisis with gaps in our social security net.” “We have a systemic power imbalance which favors landlords at all costs to low-income tenants. These holes were temporarily filled with emergency rental assistance and eviction moratoriums.
