Activists seek more time as moratorium on evictions is ending
Allegheny County will not extend an eviction moratorium for nonpayment of rent, according to an order issued Monday by President Judge Kim Berkeley Clark. However, the order allows for district judges to provide additional time for tenants and landlords to apply for and receive assistance through a statewide aid program.
Also, Gov. Tom Wolf, after initially hinting he might extend a statewide eviction moratorium that expired Monday, announced later he could not.
Activists in Pittsburgh on Monday called on the governor, state legislators and local court officials to take action to extend the moratorium until the end of November.
“Folks are just in dire straits,” Celeste Scott, a housing justice organizer for Pittsburgh United, said Monday.
She was surrounded by a group of demonstrators, with signs reading “Stop All Evictions,” “If we can’t work, we can’t pay” and “Housing is Healthcare.” They later took their message in a car parade from the Hill District to the Greenfield Bridge.
Advocates have argued with high unemployment and a pandemic still raging, the moratorium is needed to keep people housed.
“Home is the foundation. When you take away someone’s home, you take away everything,” said Ms. Scott, speaking before a group of activists set off to demonstrate in their cars.
The statewide program to distribute federal funds to renters and landlords has been slow to get money to needy households; as of Friday, it had paid out only 34 of more than 5,000 applications in Allegheny County. The program has been moving slowly due to paperwork and bureaucratic hurdles, and some landlords have chosen not to participate because of a cap on the amount of assistance they can receive. It requires both the landlord and tenant to participate.
In a statement, Mr. Wolf’s office said it had explored the possibility it could build off of the Federal Housing Administration’s Thursday extension of its national foreclosure and eviction moratorium
through December.
“But after a thorough legal review, we have determined that the governor cannot extend the executive order to reach additional Pennsylvanians who are not benefiting from the federal extensions and a legislative fix is necessary in order to protect homeowners and renters from eviction,” Mr. Wolf’s office said.
The Federal Housing Administration’s moratorium protects homeowners with FHA- insured single family mortgages.
Mr. Wolf, a Democrat, last week said he does not have the legal authority to extend the moratorium beyond August and urged the state’s Republicancontrolled Legislature to pass legislation to extend the statewide moratorium, which for almost six months has shielded renters from losing their homes for failing to pay rent during the pandemic.
Earlier Monday, Mr. Wolf had briefly made it sound as if he might reverse himself and extend it. Asked if he would, he replied, “You have to wait and see.”
The state House of Representatives returns to voting session Tuesday, and the Senate was scheduled to return next week. Republicans have said they will discuss the matter but gave no promises.
Like many Democratic and Republican governors and local officials around the
U. S., Mr. Wolf imposed a moratorium on foreclosures and evictions.
On July 9, he extended the statewide moratorium until Aug. 31, saying renters needed more breathing room. A landlords group and individual landlords tried to
get the moratorium overturned, but the state Supreme Court dismissed their suit.
To apply for rental assistance, visit http:// phfa. org/ pacares/ rent. aspx or call 1855- U- Are- Home ( 827- 3466). Callers should listen for the prompt mentioning CARES assistance. To apply for rental assistance in Allegheny County, visit https:// covidrentrelief. alleghenycounty. us/ or call 412- 248- 0021.