The relief felt by tenants when Gov. Ron DeSantis extended Florida’s eviction moratorium another month to Sept. 1 may be short-lived because changes to the order’s phrasing explicitly allow eviction filings to resume and for some residents to be kicked out.
The original statewide moratorium that’s been in place since April was much more vague, suspending “any statute providing for an eviction cause of action.”
Some housing advocates interpreted that as meaning landlords weren’t allowed to start filing, but many did anyway. In fact, while the moratorium’s been in place, about 400 commercial and residential evictions have been filed in Orange County alone.
The recent extension, however, specifically suspends just the “final action at the conclusion of an eviction proceeding” and solely for tenants who have been “adversely affected by the COVID-19 emergency.”
Because of that, the chief judge over Orange and Osceola courts, Donald Myers Jr., anticipates “that the floodgates will open.” He said he expects to see the backlog of evictions that have been held up since the moratorium was put in place.
In normal times, there are about 1,000 evictions filed every month in Orange County, which could mean there’s a backlog of at least 5,000 cases.
“We’re going to see some multiple of that 5,000,” Myers said. “So the potential is huge.”
Some advocates fear that COVID-related filings housing could create a tidal wave of homelessness in Central Florida, which has been hit particularly hard by the economic crisis because of its dependency on tourism.
Jamos “Jay” Mobley, senior housing attorney for Orange County’s Legal Aid Society, said because of the way it’s written now the moratorium is essentially wiped out. Landlords now can serve notices even to individuals who have lost their jobs because of the coronavirus pandemic, the people the order seeks to protect, he said.
“I don’t see this as a moratorium at all. I don’t see this as stopping any evictions from being filed,” Mobley said. “I think they’ll be filed as usual, they’ll be served just as it always has been.”
And because residents might not know that the order has changed, Mobley said many may ignore court summons, not realizing that starts a fast-paced legal process in which they have just five days to respond or automatically lose their case and be kicked out.
“I think everyone misunderstands that this was just another extension and everyone’s covered, but this is not business as usual. We’re back to evictions moving. So I expect a flood,” Mobley said.
State Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, lambasted DeSantis for approving the extension without being more transparent about its implications. As with the other extensions, this one came just a few days before it was set to expire and without comment from the governor.
“This was not publicly made clear when the governor extended it,” she said.
On Thursday, DeSantis said the order would only apply to someone who had not been affected financially by the pandemic.
“We do have some people who still have their job, haven’t had any negative effects, and that would be different than somebody who is unemployed or who has lost their job due to the coronavirus,” he said at news conference in Jacksonville. ‘If you have no effects … and you’re still working, you’ve got to meet your obligations just like any other Floridian would.”
The change comes as many residents are still struggling during the pandemic crisis. For example, the U.S. Census Bureau reported that from July 16 to July 21, about a third of adults in Florida struggled to cover July’s rent and expected to have trouble paying August’s.
In June, unemployment in Florida was at 10.4%, which means 1.02 million residents were still out of work.
Eskamani said she believes the order was tweaked to benefit property management companies and landlords, some of which have called for the moratorium to be lifted while at the same time tenant advocacy groups have pleaded for it to be extended longer.
In June, several local property management executives and mom-and-pop landlords wrote to the Orange County commission saying that while they’ve tried to devise payment plans for renters who have fallen behind because of the pandemic, some tenants have taken advantage of the freeze on evictions.
Chip Tatum, CEO of the Apartment Association of Greater Orlando, said about 65% of its members’ residents have negotiated payment plans. But about 27% of tenants with delinquent payments have been unresponsive or unwilling to agree to a plan.
“At a certain point, we have to be able to take some sort of action,” Tatum said.
The eviction process starts with a three-day notice, usually taped on the unit’s front door. If the tenant doesn’t pay the back rent in that time, the landlord can file a complaint in court and the tenant will be served a summons. After that, tenants would normally have five days to pay all of the owed rent into the court registry in order to get a hearing.
Jeffrey Hussey, managing attorney of fair housing programs with Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, said although the new order opens the door for landlords to start filing, it also provides a legal defense for tenants. Mobley said it’s also possible tenants who claim they were adversely affected by the pandemic won’t have to pay the court registry.
The order states tenants can show “loss of employment, diminished wages or business income, or other monetary loss.” That could mean emails from a supervisor, pay stubs or evidence of collecting unemployment compensation. However, collecting unemployment could be a “double-edged sword,” Mobley said, if a judge interprets that to mean the tenant had the money to pay rent.
But even if the tenant wins or the case is dismissed, they’ll still will have an eviction filing on their record, which can be a huge barrier to finding future housing.
Orange County is working to put together a diversion program to help prevent an onslaught of eviction filings. Mayor Jerry Demings said a plan will be presented to commissioners at their next meeting on Tuesday, Aug. 11, but he didn’t offer any details.
Several counties have also set up rental assistance programs with the federal CARES money they’ve received, but those funds have been quickly depleted.
Note: Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida (1-800-405-1417) and the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association (407-841-8310) provide free legal services to low-income Floridians for civil matters, including housing. Email the reporter at cglenn@orlandosentinel.com and follow on Twitter @bycarolineglenn.
