As COVID-19 eviction prohibitions near expiration across America, process servers will see an increase in evictions. On a state and national level, emergency acts were put into place because of COVID-19. Because of this, landlords were barred from moving ahead with evictions since the country was battling public health emergencies and sudden economic changes.
The federal moratorium was no longer effective from July 25, 2020. Several states in the US had similar protection bills in place, but most of them let these expire. Now that tenant protection bills are meaningless in these states, landlords who had to wait months to evict tenants can now freely go about the process.
These expirations are predicted to affect the process serving industry significantly because of the mounting backlog.
But why did this happen?
An Expired CARES Act
The CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) had conditions that protected several tenants from unforeseen circumstances. People living on a property backed by a federal mortgage or people who were actively participating in federal assistance programs were safe from eviction until July 25, 2020.
But with that said, the CARES Act also made it clear that landlords give their tenants a 30-day notice before an eviction. This delayed the expected rise until August 24, 2020. Since this scenario put tenants under worry, the federal government is now piecing together a new package that attempts to deal with the damages caused by COVID-19. Some of these will include provisions that favor tenants, while others won’t include evictions at all.
A recent survey by the Data for Progress for the Justice Collaborative showed that 75% of all voters support the federal government’s decision to compensate landlords and tenants so that mortgages and rents can be forgiven. Four further Acts that attempt to support tenants are stalled in Congress, along with some that recommend extending the moratorium.
Those acts are:
- HEROES ActEmergency Housing Protections and Relief Act of 2020, RELIEF Act (Rent Emergencies Leave Impacts on Evicted Families)
- Protecting Renters from Evictions and Fees Act of 2020
- Emergency Housing Voucher Act of 2020
How Many Evictions Are Expected?
Currently, tracking the number of evictions isn’t possible because we don’t have the appropriate metrics to follow. But on the other hand, it is equally important to understand the drastic impacts of COVID-19. Because of the pandemic, the lockdown’s impact and the country’s response affected several industries that rely on renters.
The tenants were affected more (compared to home buyers), but the food services industry faced heavy shellshock. That is because this industry has the highest majority of renters (two-thirds of all employees live as tenants). On the other hand, landlords have also been affected because they have to pay bills and mortgages too. The landlords aren’t necessarily evil; the pandemic is changing lives left, right, and center.
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