{"id":449058,"date":"2021-12-27T15:00:54","date_gmt":"2021-12-27T15:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/radiofree.asia\/?guid=5c371e60db1d206648fae486479e5de7"},"modified":"2021-12-27T15:00:54","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T15:00:54","slug":"rural-america-is-facing-an-invisible-eviction-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/12\/27\/rural-america-is-facing-an-invisible-eviction-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Rural America Is Facing an Invisible Eviction Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"<a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/audio\/rural-america-is-facing-an-invisible-eviction-crisis\/\"><img width=\"200\" height=\"134\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-200x134.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Maricopa County constable arrives to a home to post an eviction order on October 1, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona.\" loading=\"lazy\" srcset=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-200x134.jpg 200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-400x268.jpg 400w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-1200x803.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-800x535.jpg 800w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-1536x1028.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-2048x1370.jpg 2048w, https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-2400x1606.jpg 2400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 200px) 100vw, 200px\" \/><\/a><aside class=\"introtext\">This <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/housing\/housing-in-crisis\/rural-america-eviction-cases-crisis\/\">article<\/a> was originally published by the <em><a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/\">Center for Public Integrity<\/a><\/em>, a nonprofit investigative news organization based in Washington, D.C.<\/aside>\n<p>MILLSVILLE, West Virginia \u2014 About 70 miles northwest of the nation\u2019s capital, past wineries in the affluent Virginia countryside and across the state line into West Virginia, there\u2019s a house on a hill in a deteriorating neighborhood.<\/p>\n<p>Inside sits Melody Shaffer, rubbing her red-rimmed eyes at the dining table. Her boyfriend Chris Pascoe paces between the dimly lit kitchen and living room. Paint peels from a nearby door frame.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cI have no clue,\u201d Shaffer repeatedly says when asked where they would go now that they were about to be evicted.<\/p>\n<p>It was the day before Thanksgiving. At the bustling Walmart down the road, shoppers filled their carts with potatoes, stuffing, green beans and pumpkin pie, oblivious to the scene that had unfolded that morning in the county courthouse. <\/p>\n<p>Jefferson County Magistrate Judge Vicki D\u2019Angelo had ruled in favor of three landlords and ordered the tenants living in their homes \u2014 including Shaffer and Pascoe \u2014 to vacate by Dec. 3. <\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cTo wait and do this in the wintertime, right before it gets cold \u2026\u201d Shaffer trailed off.<\/p>\n<p>Statistically speaking, not much is known about evictions that are occurring outside the nation\u2019s urban areas during the COVID-19 pandemic. There is no national system that monitors eviction cases in real time. The largest set of publicly available data is gathered by Princeton\u2019s Eviction Lab, which is <a href=\"https:\/\/evictionlab.org\/eviction-tracking\/\">tracking cases<\/a> in six states and 31 cities.<\/p>\n<p>Data in those urban areas show mixed trends. In places with few tenant protections, the number of cases is going up, according to the Eviction Lab.<\/p>\n<section class=\"article-section\">\n<p>But tenants\u2019 lawyers in the country\u2019s less populated regions say they\u2019re also handling more cases now that the federal moratorium on evictions has expired. <\/p>\n<p>States like West Virginia, South Dakota, Delaware and Arkansas have been slow to dole out rental assistance from the federal government \u2014 money that\u2019s meant to be a levy holding back a flood of evictions. <\/p>\n<p>Nationwide, only about 34% of the $45 billion Congress sent to states and cities for rental assistance had been distributed by Oct. 31, according to data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. <\/p>\n<p>Other pots of money have been slow to be spent too, including <a href=\"https:\/\/publicintegrity.org\/housing\/housing-in-crisis\/hud-housing-funding-covid-impacts\/\">$9 billion<\/a> the Department of Housing and Urban Development sent to states and cities to combat housing-related COVID-19 fallout.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cMy frustration is widespread,\u201d said Brent Thompson, executive director for East River Legal Services, which provides representation to low-income residents in eastern South Dakota. \u201cIt\u2019s just sad when you see a continuing problem day in and day out, and there\u2019s [only] so much you can do for them.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-section\">\n<h2 id=\"part-2\" class=\"article-section-heading\">Access to Information and Aid in Eviction Cases<\/h2>\n<p>Thompson said the biggest hurdle he\u2019s faced in South Dakota is lack of information for tenants, many of whom were living in poverty before COVID-19 swept through the state. <\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cWe\u2019ve developed a culture where people don\u2019t tend to avail themselves of protections afforded to them,\u201d Thompson said. \u201cThis isn\u2019t a new problem. It\u2019s a problem that\u2019s being magnified by the pandemic and reaching a crisis point because of the pandemic.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Back when the federal eviction moratorium was in place, people living in South Dakota tended to simply move elsewhere when their landlords threatened to evict, rather than fight for their right to stay, Thompson said.<\/p>\n<p>And many tenants either don\u2019t know about the state\u2019s $200 million rental assistance allocation from the federal government or haven\u2019t been able to access those funds.<\/p>\n<section class=\"article-section\">\n<p>As of Oct. 31, only 4% of that money had been distributed to tenants and landlords, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/home.treasury.gov\/policy-issues\/coronavirus\/assistance-for-state-local-and-tribal-governments\/emergency-rental-assistance-program\">data from the U.S. Department of the Treasury<\/a>. A November report from the National Low Income Housing Coalition placed South Dakota and Wyoming last among states for the share of  rental assistance they\u2019d sent to tenants and landlords. <\/p>\n<p>The South Dakota Housing Development Authority, which is administering the state\u2019s rental assistance programs, has distributed aid to more than 5,200 households with money from the federal government, said Amanda Weisgram, spokesperson for the agency. The state approved 75% of the completed applications it received.<\/p>\n<p>Weisgram noted the need for assistance isn\u2019t as acute in South Dakota because the state\u2019s businesses weren\u2019t forced to close during the pandemic, and residents weren\u2019t required to stay home. <\/p>\n<p>But Thompson\u2019s office saw a 30% jump in eviction cases for four months in a row earlier this year, and he said the need for attorneys is growing. Only eight attorneys cover this 33-county region, which spans 30,000 square miles. His territory is home to a large population of undocumented migrant workers and Indigenous people, groups that have historically been exploited by landlords.<\/p>\n<p>South Dakota <a href=\"https:\/\/ncaj.org\/state-rankings\/2021\/justice-index\">ranks last<\/a> in terms of access to legal representation, according to the National Center for Access to Justice.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-section\">\n<h2 class=\"hang-punc-header-small article-section-heading\" id=\"part-3\">&#8220;We Don\u2019t Know If They\u2019ll Drink&#8221;<\/h2>\n<p>In Delaware, landlords have been hesitant to sign up for rental assistance programs, said Dan Atkins, executive director of Community Legal Aid Society Inc.<\/p>\n<p>Landlords have balked at providing financial records to the state government, and they haven\u2019t wanted to give up their right to evict tenants in exchange for receiving rental payments. <\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cYou can drag a horse to water, but you can\u2019t make them drink,\u201d Atkins said. \u201cWe\u2019ll drag them to the water, but we don\u2019t know if they\u2019ll drink.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many of the lowest-income tenants in Delaware don\u2019t know about the rental assistance available to them. They don\u2019t have reliable access to the internet and some people aren\u2019t able to read, Atkins said. All of this is a challenge when the state requires pages of documentation proving financial hardship.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, there\u2019s a narrative in the low-income community that no one is going to help, he said.<\/p>\n<p>Over 80% of landlords are represented in eviction cases in Delaware, Atkins said, while fewer than 5% of tenants have lawyers by their side. There\u2019s not enough legal aid to go around.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cWe are starting to see the floodgates open a bit, and we are looking over our shoulder and wondering if it\u2019s going to be a big tidal wave soon,\u201d Atkins said.<\/p>\n<p>As of Oct. 31, only 10% of Delaware\u2019s $200 million allocation in rental assistance had been doled out to tenants and landlords, according to data from the Treasury Department.<\/p>\n<p>In Arkansas, state officials were <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arkansasonline.com\/news\/2021\/jul\/25\/states-rental-aid-funds-languish\/\">lagging behind<\/a> most other states for the first seven months of the emergency rental assistance program, but they picked up the pace of distributing money in October, Treasury Department data show. Still, that\u2019s only used up 22% of the state\u2019s $174 million allocation.<\/p>\n<section class=\"article-section\">\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cThe public badly needs access to rental assistance funds,\u201d said Kendall Lewellen, housing subject area manager for the Center for Arkansas Legal Services, adding that the state amended its policies to make it easier for tenants to access the aid. \u201cI just hope that it isn\u2019t too late for most people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As of Oct. 15, Lewellen\u2019s office had handled twice as many landlord-tenant cases in 2021 as it did in the same time period in 2020.<\/p>\n<p>Eviction in Arkansas is uniquely punitive, Lewellen said. It\u2019s the only state in the nation that charges tenants with a crime for failing to pay their rent and vacate their home.<\/p>\n<p>Nearly 450 people were charged with that misdemeanor crime between March 2020 and November 2021 in Arkansas, according to data from the state\u2019s court system. Of those, 133 were found guilty.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cMost places in Arkansas have stopped enforcing the law, but some places are still issuing arrest warrants for tenants who fall behind on their rent,\u201d Lewellen said. \u201cIn more rural areas, the practice still happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<section class=\"article-section\">\n<h2 class=\"article-section-heading\" id=\"part-4\">Country Roads<\/h2>\n<p>Back in West Virginia, Shaffer and Pascoe were living in a neighborhood littered with rotting tires and stacks of lumber. The house next door was shrouded by dead vines.<\/p>\n<p>As of Dec. 15, they hadn\u2019t found a place they could afford to rent, and they were thinking they\u2019d have to spend the night outside. They didn\u2019t apply for rental assistance because the process would take <a href=\"https:\/\/mountainstatespotlight.org\/2021\/08\/17\/the-feds-gave-wv-260-million-for-rental-assistance-the-state-has-only-spent-15-6-million\/\">weeks to complete<\/a>, and Pascoe\u2019s income as a handyman in the flooring business had dried up. <\/p>\n<p>So had the income of Johnny Herrell, who was in the tree-trimming business in nearby Charles Town. Harrell said his employer died, and he was suddenly out of work. He said he had never missed a rental payment before, but he could no longer afford to pay $500 a month.<\/p>\n<p>His landlord, Alex Salgado, purchased the small building Herrell was living in about 18 months ago. Herrell was the first person he had to evict.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cIt\u2019s a circle, right?\u201d Salgado said. \u201cI need to get money in so I can pay for the building.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like Shaffer and Pascoe, Herrell found out the day before Thanksgiving that he would be evicted by Dec. 3. He didn\u2019t want to move into his son\u2019s home, which was already crowded. The only place he could think to live was inside an old pop-up camper on a nearby campground. It isn\u2019t insulated. And the temperatures were already dropping below freezing at night.<\/p>\n<p>At the last minute, Herrell\u2019s relatives helped him rent an apartment in Maryland, so he wouldn\u2019t have to sleep in the camper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"hang-punc-medium\">\u201cIt felt lousy,\u201d Herrell said of his experience in the courtroom. \u201cYou work all your life, and you\u2019re fine, and you bust your butt, and you keep going no matter what happens, and you know what? It was heartbreaking.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n<\/section>\n\n<p class=\"syndicated-attribution\">This post was originally published on <a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/audio\/rural-america-is-facing-an-invisible-eviction-crisis\/\">Latest \u2013 Truthout<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/audio\/rural-america-is-facing-an-invisible-eviction-crisis\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"134\" src=\"https:\/\/truthout.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/2021_1227-evictions-200x134.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"A Maricopa County constable arrives to a home to post an eviction order on October 1, 2020, in Phoenix, Arizona.\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-summary\">In places where rental assistance has been slow to be delivered, eviction cases are piling up. No one\u2019s tracking it.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":10937,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3761,905,1110,4,40213,8884],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449058"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10937"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":449059,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449058\/revisions\/449059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}