Evictions Spiking as Assistance, Protections Disappear

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press

Jada Riley thought she had beaten homelessness.

The 26-year-old New Orleans resident was finally making a steady income cleaning houses during the pandemic to afford a $700-a-month, one-bedroom apartment. But she lost nearly all her clients after Hurricane Ida hit last year. Then she was fired from a grocery store job in February after taking time off to help a relative.

Two months behind on rent, she made the difficult decision last month to leave her apartment rather than risk an eviction judgment on her record. Now, she's living in her car with her 6-year-old son, sometimes spending nights at the apartments of friends or her son's father.

I've slept outside for a whole year before. It's very depressing, I'm not going to lie, said Riley, who often doesn't have enough money to buy gas or afford food every day.

I don't want to have my son experience any struggles that I went through.

Eviction filings nationwide have steadily risen in recent months and are approaching or exceeding pre-pandemic levels in many cities and states. That's in stark contrast to the pandemic, when state and federal moratoriums on evictions, combined with $46.5 billion in f ederal Emergency Rental Assistance, kept millions of families housed.

I really think this is the tip of the iceberg, Shannon MacKenzie, executive director of Colorado Poverty Law Project, said of June filings in Denver, which were about 24% higher than the same time three years ago. Our numbers of evictions are increasing every month at an astonishing rate, and I just dont see that abating any time soon.