Tag: Emma Goehler

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At risk: Evictions could increase, as moratorium nears expiration

Caroline Klosko, a housing attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center, fears many local residents could be evicted once the CDC eviction moratorium expires on December 31. PC: Zack Wajsgras

While Congress continues to debate a much-needed coronavirus relief package—almost nine months after the first one was passed—nearly 40 million renters nationwide might soon be forced out of their homes, as the Centers for Disease Control’s ban on evictions approaches its expiration date.

On December 31, the CDC’s eviction moratorium will end, and the supplemental protections passed by the state in November will weaken, leaving thousands of Virginians struggling to pay rent. Currently, Virginia landlords are only allowed to proceed with an eviction if tenants refuse to apply for local or state rent relief. Once the calendar turns, landlords will still be required to help tenants file for relief, but they will be allowed to file an eviction suit if a tenant is denied aid or does not receive it within 45 days.

“It’s unclear yet how effective that’s going to be,” says Emma Goehler, chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Justice Committee, emphasizing the numerous hiccups tenants may face throughout the relief application process.

And these protections will only last as long as there is government funding for rent relief. Once it runs out, struggling renters will have nothing to fall back on.

“The legislation wants to protect landlords, to make sure they’re able to get tenants in there who can pay,” says Caroline Klosko, a housing attorney for the Legal Aid Justice Center, which has been taking on eviction cases throughout the pandemic. “[But] with the state of the rent relief funds, and the problems with administering it, that’s just dangerous.”

According to Klosko, it is currently difficult to gage whether another state or federal moratorium will be put in place, one that would prevent tenants unable to get adequate financial assistance from being kicked out of their homes.

“If the CDC moratorium is just allowed to run out and not be extended, or even if there is a several week gap between the [expiration] and Biden coming into office, we’re really worried about the effects, with COVID spiking in the wintertime,” she says.

The national ban on evictions has been crucial, explains Goehler. Since it went into effect on September 4, DSA and LAJC have helped many local tenants get their hearings pushed to January.

Even so, these prevention measures have not kept everyone in their homes. Since September, landlords have filed for 106 evictions in Charlottesville, and 16 people or families have been removed from their houses. In Albemarle, 230 filings have led to 41 evictions.

“The moratorium was never a perfect solution because it required tenants to know about it, and it also had a number of requirements that tenants had to meet to be eligible,” explains Goehler, pointing to the declaration form tenants must fill out and present to their landlord.

With winter weather making evictions even more dangerous, DSA and LAJC plan to continue to push for long-term solutions, including additional funding for rent and mortgage relief, and a moratorium on all evictions until the pandemic ends, says Klosko.

In the meantime, Goehler urges tenants facing eviction to show up to their hearings, as well as apply for assistance through the Charlottesville Community Resource Helpline (326-0950) and Virginia Rent and Mortgage Relief Program (703-962-1884).

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Know your rights: Housing activists work to prevent evictions

Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America volunteers and supporters assisted around a dozen tenants who were facing eviction at the Albemarle County Courthouse last Thursday. PC: Staff Photo

For months, a state eviction moratorium prevented tenants from being forced out of their homes for not paying rent. But at the beginning of this month, the Virginia Supreme Court declined to extend the ban before it expired September 7, pointing to a new Centers for Disease Control order prohibiting evictions until the end of the year.

However, the CDC moratorium is “opt-in,” explains Emma Goehler, chair of the Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Justice Committee. “You have to know about it, meet certain criteria, and fill out a declaration form in order to be eligible for it,” which must be presented to your landlord.

Last Thursday, Goehler and other DSA volunteers assisted around a dozen tenants in front of the Albemarle County Courthouse, where more than 30 unlawful detainer and eviction cases were on the docket.

“It should be a comprehensive moratorium, but in practice it’s been less people knowing about it. There really hasn’t been much effort to disperse information from the federal government,” says Goehler. “So that’s where we’ve been stepping in.”

According to the CDC, the moratorium only applies to tenants who expect to earn no more than $99,000 in annual income—or no more than $198,000 if filing a joint tax return—this year, and who are unable to pay their rent due to loss of household income (or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses). Tenants must also swear that they’re making their “best efforts” to obtain government assistance, and pay as much of their rent as possible, under penalty of perjury.

Those who are not protected by the CDC moratorium may still get a 60-day extension if they show up to court with written evidence that they have lost income due to the pandemic.

But since the state moratorium was lifted on September 8, five eviction judgments have been made against tenants in Charlottesville, and 19 have been made in Albemarle County, most likely because the tenants did not know about the moratorium, or they did not attend their hearings.

Because tenants will still face eviction if they do not pay off their rent debt before the moratorium ends, DSA is working to connect them with various assistance resources, like the Emergency Rent and Mortgage Relief Program hotline.

In the meantime, DSA hopes the Virginia General Assembly will pass more comprehensive legislation canceling all rent debt and removing eviction filings from tenants’ housing records.

“The fact that you’ve had an eviction filing…[makes] it harder for you to find housing in the future,” says Goehler.

According to the Legal Aid Justice Center, the current language surrounding evictions in the proposed budgets in the state House and Senate needs a lot of improvement.

“[It] doesn’t stop landlords from evicting people in the midst of a global health pandemic for minor lease violations, such as having a guest stay too long. Even the protections it provides for tenants who aren’t able to pay their rent aren’t strong enough,” says Communications Director Jeff Jones.

“However, there are still several steps left in the budget process,” he says. “We look forward to continuing to work with legislators to ensure that all tenants can remain safely in their homes until the present health emergency ends.”

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Coronavirus News

Backed up: As evictions loom, local assistance hotline struggles to meet demand

Charlottesville DSA housing justice advocates Melissa Gilrain and Lucas Critzer hand out fliers with rental assistance resources outside of the General District Court. PC: Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America

Nearly three weeks ago, the Virginia Supreme Court granted Governor Ralph Northam’s request for a statewide ban on evictions until September 7. While the order allows eviction cases to still be heard in court—and judgments to be made—tenants cannot be forced out of their homes for not paying rent.

As state lawmakers continue to debate a bill that would extend the moratorium to April, local residents facing housing instability are currently able to apply to a variety of rent assistance programs, including the Thomas Jefferson Planning District Commission’s Emergency Rent and Mortgage Relief Program.

In partnership with the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development, TJPDC has been distributing $450,000 in CARES Act funding through the program to eligible households in Charlottesville and surrounding counties.

But according to local housing activists, the program hotline set up for Charlottesville and Albemarle—run by community partner Charlottesville Pathways—has not made it easy for some renters to get help since it began accepting applications July 15.

“Tenants have been telling us that they’ve called the hotline over and over again, and haven’t heard back. Or that it’s taken weeks for them to hear back,” says Emma Goehler of Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America, whose housing justice team has been connecting local renters with financial resources.

“It’s a long process…We haven’t had anyone reach out and report good experiences,” says Goehler of the hotline’s response time.

Applicants have also complained about the hotline’s voicemail message, which, until recently, was only in English, a potential barrier for many Spanish-speaking residents.

“It’s just really critical that the resources for rental assistance are made accessible to all,” says Goehler.

Several other activists echoed Goehler’s concerns at last week’s City Council meeting.

“Myself, and other volunteers in the community, have been outside talking to people who are heading into court, and they have all said that they are unable to get through to that hotline, and that the only way to make contact is to spend the day calling and calling,” said Elizabeth Stark, who is also a member of Charlottesville DSA.

According to Gretchen Ellis of the city’s department of human services, which helps manage the hotline, ERMRP staff have taken applicants’ complaints seriously and have made numerous changes in recent weeks.

The hotline has added operators, and currently has five full-time and several part-time people answering calls Monday through Friday from 9am to 6pm.

The voicemail message was also changed, asking callers to wait to be called back instead of leaving a message, says Ellis. Due to a high number of callers leaving multiple messages, operators would accidentally call the same people back, slowing down response times even more.

Now, says Ellis, anyone who calls the hotline and is not able to get through to an operator, will be called back within one business day, thanks to the additional staff and an improved intake process.

A message in Spanish was added to the voicemail last week, and ERMRP is hoping to hire more hotline operators with language skills. At this time, though, only one part-time staff member (and a language translation line) is available to assist Spanish speakers.

Last week, more than 30 days after the hotline opened, operators were finally able to finish responding to all the backlogged calls. However, data shared during TJPDC’s recent meeting shows that there are still a significant number of applicants going through the complicated approval process.

As of August 20, in Charlottesville and Albemarle combined, 97 applications have been approved, 13 have been denied, and a whopping 265 remaining pending.