A new federal order has created a national freeze on evictionsuntil the end of the year for most renters facing coronavirus hardships. Locally, housing advocates hope the measure pushes more landlords towards a county settlement fund to work out payment deals with tenants, but landlords say the new ban is one-sided without providing them any financial relief.
The number of eviction filings in Shelby County from June to August were down about 50 percent compared to 2019, according to Innovate Memphis, which is tracking the data. Housing attorneys say that's in large part because of federal safety net protections such as enhanced unemployment benefits and an initial moratorium on evictions for properties that had federally-backed mortgages.
But both expired at the end of July, and a 30-day eviction notice period required for those rental units covered under the moratorium just timed out in August. So housing advocates say this week’s federal order came just in time to stave off an expected onslaught of new eviction filings.
Cindy Ettingoff with Memphis Area Legal Services says a potential wave of homelessness has, so far, been averted.
“It’s huge because kids are in school,” she says. “If you’re doing school at home, which is what Shelby County is doing, then what [would] you do, if you’re out on the street?”
But others worry the new order only delays mass evictions until January unless the federal government comes up with more money to help renters.
Some are already questioning the legality of the move. The order came down from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which some argue overstepped its authority.
Austin Harrison, a researcher with Innovate Memphis, worries that legal challenges will further cloud how the order can be implemented and could lead to landlords throwing tenants out illegally.
“Confusion around it will encourage people to...say, ‘I’m not even going to care enough to know whether I can evict or not, I’m just going to find another way to go around the system,’” he says.
To qualify for the new eviction protection, individuals have to make less than $99,000, have no other housing options, have sought government rental assistance and have COVID-specific reasons for not being able to pay. Tenants must send a signed affidavit to their landlords asserting they qualify.
Attorney Ben Sissman says the order puts an unfair burden on landlords—they also have bills to pay and risk defaulting on their mortgages. Under the new moratorium, tenants are expected to try making partial payments, at least, until they can pay the full amount. But Sissman fears that won’t happen.
“So we’re looking at people who owe thousands of dollars of rent, and the expectation is that at the end of this, they’re not going to have the money, and they’re not going to be able to pay,” he says. “Then where are the landlords going to be?”
Shelby County’s Eviction Settlement Fund is working to get some money in the hands of landlords whose tenants have fallen behind on rent. Two million dollars in CARES ACT money is available to make renegotiated rent payments.
Ettingoff says the new eviction freeze will give the program more time to recruit volunteer attorneys to take on what could be a flood of new applications. She also hopes it encourages more landlords to be open to the negotiations, getting a percentage of what’s owed instead of nothing.
“The landlords have a right to collect rent. The act does nothing to negate that right,” she says. “But realistically, this could be sort of a ‘everybody gives a little bit, everybody gets a little bit' situation.'”
Stipulations for receiving money from the fund include a landlord ensuring their property meets housing codes.
So far, Ettingoff says the fund has about 2,000 cases in the works. There is additional rental assistance money for people in County Commission District 6 (Raleigh, Frayser, and Nutbush areas) through Memphis Area Legal Services.
To apply for help, visit the Eviction Settlement Fund or Memphis Area Legal Services.