With the federal eviction moratorium set to expire on Saturday, and thousands of renters in Georgia and elsewhere in danger of being kicked out of their apartments, the White House has a message for local governments.
Find a way to help.
But, in Georgia, that help is uneven. Some counties are doing a good job of coordinating what’s been touted as one of the best strategies for staving off evictions — offering rental assistance funds while providing effective mediation between landlords and tenants. And some aren’t.
“The state has no centralized mechanism for helping renters,” said Dan Pasciuti, an assistant professor of sociology at Georgia State University and an author of recent reports on eviction courts in the state. “The difference of a few blocks can matter in terms of what access you get and what help you get, which is quite amazing.”
The stakes for getting it right are high. The moratorium’s anticipated end comes as the highly contagious delta variant is causing a surge in COVID-19 cases throughout the country. The ban on evictions was instituted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent homelessness and overcrowded housing conditions that could encourage the spread of the coronavirus.
Only 6% of the more than $700 million in federal money for rental assistance has been distributed in Georgia, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution analysis. As for mediation, most counties in the state don’t have rosters of court-approved mediators that can provide a go-between for landlords and tenants.
During many eviction hearings, landlords and tenants are simply sent out in the hall by a judge to try to work out an agreement, said Pasciuti.
If mediation does occur, it typically takes place on the same day as the eviction hearing. That means that even if an agreement is reached between parties in mediation, the eviction filings remain on tenants’ records, hurting their chances at securing housing in the future.
Pasciuti has worked with Clayton County on its eviction diversion strategies and thinks that the five core metro Atlanta counties are “doing fairly well.”
Fulton County leads the pack in giving out rental assistance, with 48% of its funds distributed so far, the AJC analysis shows. But, even though the vast majority of eviction cases in the county go through mediation, most tenants end up signing move-out agreements, said Viraj Parmar, a volunteer lawyer who manages the Housing Court Assistance Center.
“I don’t think I have ever seen a consent agreement that keeps a tenant in the apartment,” said Parmar. “For us, a win is if we delay the eviction.”
Part of the problem is, unlike HCAC, county rental assistance providers aren’t on-site in the Fulton County courthouse, Parmar said. And he and a paralegal are the only full-time staff members of HCAC.
Many don’t understand how mediation works, he said. Often, tenants sign agreements that they can’t meet. Some also waived their rights under the CDC moratorium.
“A lot of people don’t know what mediation is,” he said. “They are not told the idea is to negotiate to solve the problem.”
The White House highlighted efforts in Cobb County, though some complain not enough is being done there. The county has appointed mediators, rental assistance and sometimes legal aid on site at the courthouse. On Tuesday, Brendan Murphy, the chief magistrate judge of the county, asked and got approval for additional funds for legal aid to help handle eviction cases through 2024.
Murphy said rental assistance is making the difference. Combined with the moratorium, “We are calling it the ‘safety net of the safety net,’” he said.
Because tenants are eligible for up to 12 months of rental assistance if they can show proof of a COVID-19-related hardship, there is not much to mediate at the moment, Murphy said.
Landlords also have varying levels of tolerance when it comes to mediation.
Rick Stolz, who rents out property in Atlanta, said he’s “totally happy to go to mediation” and thinks other landlords are as well.
But Kelly James, president of R. James Properties in Atlanta, said negotiations on rent payments happen when a person signs a lease.
“Would I prefer to work with residents rather than evict them? Yes, I certainly would,” he said. “But, as far as involving an official mediator to negotiate a deal with residents, I’m not sure how enthused I would be.”
Some residents don’t make it easy to work out a plan, James said.
“The first instinct of a lot of folks when they get in trouble is to stop talking to their landlord, and that is the exact wrong thing to do,” he said. “Keeping open lines of communication has been very important on all sides of the equation throughout this whole COVID craziness.”
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
Credit: Alyssa Pointer
About 20% of Georgia renters are behind on rent payments, with roughly the same number reporting that they do not think they will be able to pay next month’s rent, according to a recent survey by the Census Bureau. Women and racial minorities have been disproportionately impacted economically by the pandemic, making them more likely to face legal proceedings for nonpayment of rent, Princeton University’s Eviction Lab reports.
Yet, eviction diversion programs that include mediation have been highly successful in some parts of the country.
In Philadelphia, the efforts are rooted in collaboration. To start, landlords must apply for rental assistance before filing a nonpayment eviction and are automatically enrolled in other diversion programming.
If there are outstanding issues between the landlord and tenant after rental assistance is applied for, the parties go to mediation.
Sue Wasserkrug, the program administrator at CORA Good Shepherd Mediation there, said landlord-tenant mediation is a “win-win-win.” “Not only are the landlord and the tenant walking away with an agreement, but it is good for the entire community because of the devastating consequences of evictions,” she said.
On top of those efforts, all tenants who are going through the diversion program in Philadelphia are assigned a housing counselor to offer housing-related advice for free. Attorneys are also available, and there is a hotline available for renters to call with questions, too.
Former judge Annette Rizzo is the anchor of the program and likened eviction diversion to a ballet.
“A lot of moving parts have to work together,” Rizzo said. “It is, frankly, about getting buy-in from your local courts, the leadership, to see the value of this.”
In Georgia, laws favor landlords, meaning tenants can be evicted much more quickly than in other states, according to local experts. To slow this process and increase housing stability, a pre-court mediation program, like in Philadelphia, could be replicated for Georgians, they said.
Parmar, the lawyer who manages the Housing Court Assistance Center, highlighted the benefits of a pre-court program. A tenant’s rental history is not tarnished. The court and landlord don’t lose as much money. And judicial resources are conserved.
Deanna Pantín Parrish, a Harvard University eviction diversion expert, said there’s good reason to invest in methods that increase housing stability.
“Eviction diversion is not only necessary because it is a lifeline to parties — both tenants and landlords,” she said. “It is also doable.”
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