Many seek help, but help is scarce in city
Programs to prevent evictions face shortage of funding
The line outside the doors of the Bon Secours Community Works center in West Baltimore forms at 8 a.m.
The office won’t be open for another 90 minutes, but each month tenants facing eviction arrive early with the paperwork they need to prove they qualify for a $700 grant that could help them avoid getting kicked out of their homes.
On a recent morning, Lester Moody caught a ride from his apartment near Morgan State University, hoping to be among the fortunate 20 selected. Moody said he missed April’s rent at his Marble Hall Gardens apartment because a surgery last year drained his savings.
After 11 years in his apartment, Moody was fearful of what would happen if he doesn’t catch up.
“They seize your property, they change your locks,” said Moody, 59. “They want their money or they’ll evict you.
“That’s kinda cold, but that’s how the business works.”
In Baltimore, the eviction business has been booming. The court issues some 70,000 eviction notices each year. About 7,500 tenants were turned out of their homes last year.
The rest either found a way to pay and stay, moved to new homes, checked into hotels, crashed with friends and family, or braved shelters or the streets. With their belongings packed into storage units, car trunks or friends’ basements, tenants scramble every day to find help to get by for another month.
Such help is growing more difficult to locate.
Helping people stay in their homes saves taxpayers money in the long run, research shows. Other cities have been expanding their efforts. But government resources to prevent evictions in Baltimore are dwindling.
The number of eviction prevention grants awarded by the city — money to pay overdue rent — declined from 1,185 in fiscal year 2011 to 324 in fiscal year 2014, the most recent years for which figures are recorded in city budgets.
Subsequent budgets showed targets of 500 grants in fiscal years 2015 and 2016, but city officials said they were unable to say how many grants were awarded in those years or the current fiscal year.
Since fiscal year 2013 the city’s budget has stated that about “5,000 households” face eviction each year. The actual annual average since then has been nearly 7,000 evictions.
The amount of eviction prevention money awarded to seven nonprofits by the Mayor’s Office of Human Services declined 10.8 percent from $745,080 in fiscal year 2014 to $663,519 in fiscal year 2015. Nearly all of that money comes from state and federal governments.
Again, city officials said they were not able to detail how much money was spent or allocated in fiscal years 2016 and 2017. They also could not explain how the city spent $745,080 on just 324 grants in fiscal year 2014, an average award of nearly $2,200, or three times the typical $700 grant.
For the fiscal year that begins July 1, officials said, Mayor Catherine E. Pugh is set to budget $806,524 to assist 1,900 households.
What money has been available goes quickly.
“It’s difficult for us to refer people who call us for eviction prevention services, because there is rarely available funding,” said Robert Strupp, executive director of Baltimore Neighborhoods Inc.
HealthCare Access Maryland ran through its $170,000 grant for eviction prevention and rapid rehousing last year in five weeks. The nonprofit agency was able to prevent 45 evictions and relocate 54 clients before running out of money.
“After funds are expended, we ... attempt to direct people to other available resources, which are few and far between,” said M. Dudley Greer, who directs behavioral health outreach at HCAM.
“There is such limited money for eviction prevention,” agreed HCAM President Traci Kodeck. “It’s just been a systemic issue in Baltimore City, a lack of affordable housing. There’s a huge wait for subsidized housing.”
Additional funding would help the city avoid the costs it absorbs when families are evicted.
“Evictions have a ripple effect into everything,” Strupp said. “It’s enormous. Evictions cause overcrowding, cause vacant and blighted properties, they cause kids not to be in school.”
The Coalition for the Homeless in New York City, which helps tenants fight evictions in New York’s housing court, has estimated that keeping a family in their home saves taxpayers $38,000 per year in shelter costs.
The group says that helping 660 families avoid eviction last year in New York saved approximately $14 million in shelter costs.
The District of Columbia helps qualifying families that are facing eviction pay up to five months of overdue rent, up to $4,250. That can increase to $6,000 for households with seven or more children, or if someone has a disability.
Research shows that providing lawyers to represent tenants in housing court is one of the most effective ways to prevent evictions.
New York City has been expanding