Local group holds workshop on how to apply for emergency assistance

By Meghan Holmes
Contributing Writer

As July was coming to an end, Dillard University’s Office of Community and Church Relations hosted an affordable housing virtual workshop alongside the nonprofit Southeast Louisiana Legal Services, with the goals of educating attendees about the eviction process and how that process has changed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as raising awareness of rental assistance programs put in place at the federal level to help struggling renters.

Part of Dillard’s 14th Annual Virtual Housing, Health, and Community Resources Fair, the workshop guided participants on how to apply for emergency rental assistance and highlighted a coming crisis for many struggling renters – the expiration of a CDC moratorium on evictions July 31, at which point millions of people nationally potentially face eviction.

“This workshop is very important for the community because I know there are many people who have been affected by COVID-19,” said Nick Harris, director of Dillard’s Office of Community and Church Relations. “Whether it be from a lost job, or a reduction in the number of hours they’ve been working, there are people who are unable to pay their full amount of rent. We have been working with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services since 2005, when they provided pro bono services during the nightmare that it was for people who did not have a title for their property after Katrina, and they are still with us today, offering services to help people through this devastating event we are all a part of even today.”

The workshop began with an overview of some basic laws governing leases in Louisiana. Before anyone can be evicted, the landlord must give advance written notice identifying the people in the property. An e-mail or text is insufficient; the notice must be written and physically delivered. “If these conditions aren’t met, a tenant can bring that up in court and have the eviction dismissed,” said Andrew Maberry, staff attorney with Southeast Louisiana Legal Services. “One of the most common flaws we see is it not being in writing.”

Once a tenant has received a notice to vacate and does not, the landlord may serve them with a court-issued “rule for possession,” at which point a hearing will be scheduled after 72 hours to determine if the landlord can evict the tenant. “We tell all our clients to do whatever they have to do to get to their court hearing. You risk everything if you aren’t there because the judge doesn’t even have to hear the case, and there’s no stopping a judgment of eviction on your record,” Maberry said.

At this point, the landlord has to prove they’re entitled to possession of the property. If the eviction is granted, the tenant has a minimum of 24 hours to vacate the property. “If the tenant doesn’t vacate, the landlord goes to the sheriff and gets a warrant for possession, and once that is delivered they do have the right to remove you from the premises. Our number one goal is to prevent that,” Maberry said.

The eviction process was halted in March 2020 with the passage of the CARES Act, which established a 120-day eviction moratorium. “When that ended in July we saw a rapid increase in filed evictions, while still in the midst of a pandemic, and so the CDC established another eviction moratorium that expires July 31,” Maberry said.

Along with the moratorium, the Department of the Treasury distributed funds for an Emergency Rental Assistance Program to state organizations (the Louisiana Housing Corporation in Louisiana), available to landlords as well as directly to tenants whose landlords refuse to participate in the program.

“The goal is getting the money to tenants and landlords as quickly as possible to satisfy the rental debt that exists nationwide,” Maberry said. “But there have been 13-14,000 applicants in Orleans parish at this point, so it inherently takes time to do all the paperwork.”

Renters interested in applying for the program can learn more at Southeast Louisiana Legal Service’s website (slls.org) or, for those in Orleans parish, through the city’s Office of Community Development (nola.gov/community-development).

For people who have applied and are waiting to hear about the status of their application, or for anyone behind on rent, Maberry emphasized consistent, documented communication between landlord and tenant. “Conversations are your best friend. Document your situation in writing to the landlord, and that will help you in court. If a landlord issues a notice of eviction for nonpayment of rent, I think the courts will also take into consideration any pending assistance someone might have.”

Affordable housing advocates and anxious tenants are waiting to see what steps, if any, the government will take to stave off a wave of evictions when the CDC’s moratorium expires. “It’s been extended four times so we are hopeful, but we are also not expecting another extension,” Maberry said. “So, we do have questions about where we go from there. COVID has changed how we look at the future because of how it brought the issues of affordable and equitable housing to the main conversation in a way we have rarely seen. I’m curious to where we go from here and I encourage people to advocate at the local level.”

This article originally published in the July 26, 2021 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.