‘It’s tragic’: Miami housing advocates respond to end of the eviction moratorium
Miami housing advocates reacted with disappointment and dismay Friday at the Supreme Court ruling blocking the attempt by President Joe Biden to extend the ban on evictions.
The court ruled that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lacked the authority to reinstate the ban, which had ended on July 31 and was reinstated on Aug. 3, without approval by Congress.
“It’s tragic for the hundreds of thousands of renters here in Miami-Dade County,” said Alana Greer, director of the Community Justice Project, which provides legal services to economically impacted communities. “The Supreme Court has refused to acknowledge the urgency of the situation, and many families are going to be directly impacted by this decision.”
According to the group’s data, 15,022 evictions have been filed in Miami-Dade between March 12, 2020, and August 20, 2021. During Aug. 1-2, the two days between the time the moratorium lapsed and was then temporarily reinstated, there was a spike in eviction filings — 322 — which Greer says is proof that the ban had prevented some landlords from proceeding with evictions.
Annie Lord, executive director of Miami Homes for All, said the ban provided landlords with a motivation to work with their tenants to secure rent relief funds.
“In a lot of cases, the moratorium led to landlords being cooperative where otherwise they would not have been,” she said. “It’s especially true of communities of color and low income who have not been able to access relief money at better proportions. This hurts them more than anyone else.”
According to Ignacio Ortiz-Petit, special assistant to the director of Miami-Dade County Public Housing and Community Development, the county has processed 21,660 applications for Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) funds, including 4,148 applicants that had a writ of possession — the final step in the eviction process — issued against them.
The ERAP program, which uses federal funds, provides rental payment assistance for up to 12 months in arrears for qualifying applicants who are experiencing financial hardship as a result of COVID-19.
Approximately 5,485 awards have been approved, totaling $42.7 million, with the average award ranging around $9,000, according to Ortiz-Petit. Checks have been cut for 4,743 families totaling approximately $42 million, and the program continues to accept new applications.
But although the ERAP and other assistance programs continue, some advocates believe the end of the moratorium will result in an immediate spike in evictions.
“What is painful for us is that we had been organizing alongside tenants who recently felt that sense of relief that the moratorium was being extended,” said Zaina Alsous, organizing and advocacy manager for the Miami Workers Center, which is currently drafting a Tenant Bill of Rights package that would provide added protections to cost-burdened renters.
“This announcement means we have to double down on our demands for renter protection in Miami to reduce displacement,” Alsous added. “We’re looking for every city and county official to have all hands on deck, because evictions are an enormous public health crisis, and without any moratorium, they are going to increase.”
This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 4:49 PM.
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