Florida bans evictions for now, but help will ultimately end

By DAVID LYONS and BROOKE BAITINGER

SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL | JUL 01, 2020 AT 5:25 PM

Thousands of evictions have been filed in Florida courts since the coronavirus pandemic began, and renters could find themselves in a quagmire when protections ultimately end.

At least 2,672 evictions are pending in the state, with landlords just waiting for a green light to oust their tenants, according to the nonprofit Community Justice Project of Miami, which provides, among other services, legal advice on housing for low-income workers.

More than a third of adults in Florida had reported that they missed June’s rent or mortgage payment, or said they won’t be able to pay July’s, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s most recent Household Pulse Survey. Nearly half also said they lost employment, and one in eight said their households at times didn’t have enough food to eat in the previous week.

Although Gov. Ron DeSantis has once again extended a moratorium on evictions, his order will not last indefinitely and possibly not long enough for renters to dig themselves out of a hole.

For the second straight month, DeSantis waited until the 11th hour to announce the extension. The moratorium was scheduled to expire at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, and the new order extending it until Aug. 1 wasn’t released until after 8 p.m. Tuesday.

It applies only to residential property, not commercial buildings. DeSantis started the moratorium on April 2.

“I don’t understand the governor’s decision always to wait until the last minute when he knows people are suffering, and when he knows people are losing their homes and getting kicked out in the street,” U.S. Rep. Ted Deutch said in a telephone interview Tuesday.

Deutch, a Democrat whose district covers parts of Broward and Palm Beach counties, noted the House on Monday passed a housing protection and relief act that would extend a federal moratorium on evictions of renters and homeowners for a year. It also contains $100 billion in assistance for renters and $75 billion for homeowners. But Republicans vowed the bill would not clear the Senate.

A sudden stream of evictions would carry potential health ramifications. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declares on its website that “health departments and health care facilities should be aware that people who are homeless are a particularly vulnerable group” to becoming infected by the coronavirus. That’s because homeless services are provided “in congregate settings, which could facilitate the spread of infection.”

In addition, many of the homeless are older adults or have underlying medical conditions.

Florida is in the midst of a monthlong surge in COVID-19 cases. On Wednesday, the state added 6,563 new coronavirus cases, for a total of at least 158,997.

Even without the extended moratorium, many renters would have been shielded from evictions in many instances because they receive U.S. government subsidies or their apartments were purchased with the help of federally back loans.

A federal moratorium against evictions started March 27 and will remain in force through July 25. Landlords of covered properties are barred from sending three-day notices of non-payment and from filing new eviction cases during the period. They also may not charge fees or interest for late payments. After July 25, landlords may serve 30-day notices and file evictions.

According to the Miami justice project, properties covered under the federal moratorium include:

Those with federally backed mortgages (FHA, Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae, VA, HUD, USDA);
Properties receiving low-income housing tax credits;
Public housing;
Section 8 housing (vouchers and project-based units);
Properties providing housing for the elderly, people with disabilities, homeless and people with AIDS with support from federal programs
USDA and rural housing programs under the Department of Agriculture, including rural housing vouchers.
Judges in Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties have affirmed federal protections for as many as 250,000 tenants in South Florida who have failed to pay rent.

The orders require landlords seeking evictions for nonpayment to disclose to the court whether their tenants receive federal rent subsidies or whether the apartments are being purchased by the owners with federally backed mortgage loans.

Bradley Hunter, South Florida analyst for the real estate services firm RCLCO, said most of the renters behind on their monthly payments are lower income workers in hospitality and other service industries.

“You have a lot of people who are hourly workers or service workers — people who work in the hospitality industry or restaurant and tourist-related activities are a large section of the population and they are ones most at risk,” he said.

Even though many are receiving an $600 a week in federally funded unemployment benefits, that money will expire at the end of July and it is uncertain whether Congress will agree to extend the payments or create a new program.

“That money might not be in the same amount,” he said. “That could mean people who are avoiding delinquency on the rents are going to start missing payments … and getting evicted.”

Although the state’s economy has been reopened since May, the pace of recalling laid-off workers has not been fast enough for a number of families and individuals. They need to assemble cash quickly to catch up and stay current with monthly payments for a roof over their heads while also keeping cars on the road and food on the table.

Part of the pressure on the renters and homeowners is driven by a continued weakness in the small business labor market, where job retention is spotty because loan money from a federal payroll protection program is running out.

A survey of members released Wednesday by the Florida arm of the National Federation of Independent Business shows that owners are trimming payrolls as Paycheck Protection Program loans come to the end of their eight-week forgiveness period and sales have not rebounded.

Forgiveness terms for the loans generally require owners to keep payrolls at pre-crisis levels except under certain circumstances, but many owners received their loans in April and could not afford to keep workers past June.

In addition, a massive flood of unemployment claims that overwhelmed the state’s Department of Economic Opportunity has prevented many people from acquiring vital temporary financial relief from the state and federal governments.

The state’s unemployment rate for May soared to 14.5%, the highest for any month in years. Broward County’s rate was a stunning 16% while joblessness in Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties exceeded 11%.

The DEO, however, has paid out more than $8.2 billion in state and federal benefits to more than 1.5 million people who have been unemployed statewide since mid-March, according to the agency’s own figures.

The benefits payments along with federal grant and loan programs propping up businesses during the pandemic may have combined to play a role in abating the filings of personal bankruptcies since March. According to figures compiled by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of Florida, the number of filings in April and May of 2019 exceeded those filed during the same months of this year by roughly 2 to 1.

Orlando Sentinel staff writers Steven Lemongello and Caroline Glenn contributed to this report.