Landlords, lawyers and nonprofits work to keep a rent crisis from becoming an eviction crisis

The Tampa-St. Petersburg area faces a rent payment crisis, but there is help available.

There is still money available from the CARES Act for rent and utility assistance for people who lost their jobs or have reduced income as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. A community nonprofit, 211 Tampa Bay Cares, can help navigate the public funding and local legal aid organizations can provide pro bono assistance for those who qualify for help.

What’s needed to fully tap all those resources is more communication, panelists said during an online town hall hosted by 211 Tampa Bay Cares Friday morning.

Duggan Cooley

“One of the largest challenges we continue to face is awareness. There has been millions of dollars available in the community for emergency financial assistance and we continue to hear from people that they had no clue,” said Duggan Cooley, CEO of the Pinellas Community Foundation. “There needs to be work done to help broaden knowledge in the community of the millions of dollars that are here.”

In the past eight months, since the start of the pandemic, the 211 contact centers have received more than 161,000 calls from individuals and families who are struggling to make ends meet, said Micki Thompson, president and CEO of 211 Tampa Bay Cares. That’s up 142 percent from the same time last year, she said.

Micki Thompson

“We knew it would be only a matter of time before we are dealing with a looming eviction crisis in our community,” she said.

Currently, the issue is a rent payment crisis, said Eric Garduno, government affairs director for Bay Area Apartment Association, whose members include landlords and property owners and managers.

“Ultimately  the fate of our residents and the fate of landlords are linked … When rent isn’t collected, that impacts the bottom line for a lot of apartment communities. It potentially means staff layoffs, furloughs. Things won’t get fixed in a timely manner. Capital improvements could be delayed,” Garduno said.

That also could cut into the income for roofers, plumbers, electricians and other trade workers, he said.

A state order that put evictions on hold expired on Oct. 1, but a federal order from the Centers for Disease Control provides eviction relief through the end of the year.

Bay Area Legal Services has been tracking filings for eviction for nonpayment of rent in Pasco, Pinellas and Manatee counties since April, said staff attorney Tiffany Coleman.

“Pinellas has been in the lead for filing for evictions for nonpayment of rent. Right now it’s up to 1,005 and it’s going to rise, especially after the CDC moratorium [expires],” Coleman said.

Pinellas County has set aside close to $26 million for individual and family assistance. Over the last six months, 211 Cares has distributed $17 million to 6,340 households in Pinellas County, with the average household receiving about $2,700. Of the total distributed, $10 million was for rent payment assistance, Thompson said.

The CARES funding only lasts through Dec. 30, so 211 CARES is urging people to apply now to ensure they can get funding, Thompson said.

Click here for details on how to apply for funding.

Landlords want to help their tenants, Garduno said. Bay Area Management Association has contacted each county in the area to get information about that county’s assistance programs and relayed that information to the association’s members. What’s most helpful, he said, are one-page summaries of the programs that landlords can post on a tenant’s door or put in their mailbox.

Bay Area Legal Services is focused on eviction mitigation, Coleman said. That includes providing advice and counsel, extended representations, and even representation in the Pinellas Eviction Diversion Program for landlords and tenants who want to mediate their cases.

“Once a tenant is served with an eviction there’s only five days to respond to the court or you face a default judgement. It’s very time sensitive, and we have to make sure these tenants come to us as soon as possible, even prior to the eviction being filed, so we can assist them with their needs,” Coleman said.

The organization can help once an eviction is filed, but it’s key to get ahead of the cases, she said.

Pinellas County has three legal aid agencies — Bay Area Legal Services, Community Law Program and Gulf Coast Legal Services  — and all have received Pinellas CARES nonprofit partnership funding in a collaboration between the county and the Pinellas Community Foundation, Cooley said.

“All of them want to find solutions to the challenge,” Cooley said. “They understand that landlords need to be paid rent. They understand the challenge of the tenant who can’t pay because they lost their job or their hours have been reduced, and they are really working to find solutions to the problem that will prevent an eviction, or if one has already been filed, find the best way to stabilize the tenant while also working to make sure the needs of the landlord are met.”

All three agencies also have access to a pool of funds to help pay back rent and fees if that will help stave off or eliminate the eviction, he said. For evictions that need to proceed, for whatever reason, the legal aid agencies can work to extend the time in their current housing and help the tenant get to other appropriate, affordable and safe housing.

While all three legal aid agencies work with tenants, the Community Law Program also works with landlords, Cooley said.

Communication is key, all the panelists agreed.

“It is very important to let your landlord know what’s going on. Let them know even if you are waiting on assistance because they need to get paid also,” Coleman said.

Garduno advised landlords and tenants to keep open lines of communication.

“From the landlord perspective, the last thing we want is to go to eviction. We’re in the business of providing housing. Our objective is making sure people have safe and clean housing and that they are happy with their housing. Work with the landlord, talk to the landlord. We’re going to do what we can to help you out. There’s a relationship we value, so let’s work on this together.”