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Evictions in Osceola County – and across the country – are expected to increase now that national protections for tenants affected by the pandemic have been rolled back.
The United States Supreme Court ruled last week that the Centers for Disease Control overstepped its authority in ending deportations in September 2020 using a decades-old law that allows the agency to implement measures such as fumigation and extermination of pests.
However, a new local program to match eviction court landlords and tenants with untapped federal funds to pay off rent could help temper the rise and keep people housed amid the current upsurge in cases. of COVID-19.
In early August, Osceola County placed a County Liaison Officer at the courthouse to direct landlords and tenants to the federal assistance program in anticipation of the end of the eviction moratorium.
The Osceola County Eviction Prevention Liaison will be available Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the 2nd Floor of the Courthouse. If a landlord has filed an eviction action for non-payment of rent, residents can contact 407-742-8440 or email [email protected] to make an appointment with the liaison officer.
“We want to try to close that gap. We have the money available and we want to help people and we want to keep people in their homes, ”County Commissioner Cheryl Grieb said.
But it’s the tenants, not the landlords, who must complete the paperwork required to get up to 12 months rent arrears and utilities paid.
“We knew the moratorium was not going to last forever,” Osceola County Court Clerk Kelvin Soto said. “We absolutely expect evictions to increase, but this program could help. It’s good that it was put in place before that happened.
The moratorium was only available in high transmission communities like Osceola County. And that didn’t stop all evictions, but rather gave tenants able to prove financial hardship from the pandemic a reprieve, allowing them to stay in their homes – an option that is no longer available to them.
There were 864 evictions processed in Osceola from March 2020 to August 2021, most of which resulted in an eviction. Currently, there are 713 pending eviction cases in the county, many of which can now move forward, according to Soto’s office. “The decision is a boon to homeowners, who the Supreme Court said have been unfairly burdened with the cost of the pandemic despite billions of federal tenant assistance available through local government.
So far, Osceola County has distributed approximately $ 26 million in federal emergency rent assistance. But the $ 46.5 billion rent assistance program created by the federal government to pay rents accumulated during the pandemic continues to shell out money at a slow pace. “Only about $ 1.7 billion has been distributed so far, according to the Treasury Department, which oversees the emergency rental assistance program.
An estimated 1.2 million households in the United States are at risk of eviction for non-payment of rent in the next two months, according to a US Census Bureau survey released last week.
According to federal statistics, about 2.8 million households have applied for help, but only about 500,000 have reported receiving help and an additional 1.5 million are awaiting approval, according to federal statistics.
Federal guidelines to make it easier to apply for help have been announced, such as the ability for applicants to report their financial information themselves.
But that won’t be enough to avert the looming crisis, said U.S. Representative Darren Soto. He told the News-Gazette that he was pushing for additional authority for the CDC, which would allow him to enact another moratorium on the Build Back Better Reconciliation bill.
“I am disappointed that the United States Supreme Court has seen fit to end a moratorium on deportations in the midst of a pandemic,” he said. “COVID-19 cases are increasing in Osceola County as we speak. This decision will contribute to COVID
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