Volusia County has distributed less than 20% of federal government's emergency rental money

News-Journal - 8/7/2021

Despite a brief extension to the federal eviction moratorium, many of those struggling financially because of the COVID-19 pandemic in Volusia County are still confused on how to get help.

"Most people are confused," Orlando-based tenant lawyer Debi Rumph said.

"There's been a lot of confusion being created," agreed Deland-based Heather Marie Caeners, who primarily represents landlords. "Landlords don't know, are they expecting rent or not? Tenants don't know, are they going to being evicted or not?"

Despite legal concerns, President Joe Biden's administration issued a targeted moratorium on evictions this week in areas hardest hit by COVID-19. The protection applies in areas where the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report "substantial or high levels of community transmission" of the coronavirus. This includes every county in Florida.

See where COVID-19 is spreading: CDC tracker

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky signed the order Tuesday night, three days after the agency's nationwide eviction freeze expired. The new order is set to expire Oct. 3.

Volusia County has distributed nearly $5 million in emergency rental assistance so far in 2021, less than a fifth of the $26 million it's received from the federal government, according to county spokesman Kevin Captain. That includes.

Of note, of the more than 2,600 applications for emergency assistance the county has received, just 32 have come from landlords — none of which have submitted all required documents, Captain said.

Last week's coverage: Hundreds at risk of eviction in Volusia County with moratorium set to expire Saturday

'A living hell': Halifax Health nurse begs coronavirus patient to go on ventilator

More from the county council: 'Bill of Rights sanctuary' resolution fails after COVID widow's testimony

The White House called on state and local governments to immediately disburse that money as July 31 approached, but county staff said the federal government's own guidance prevents them from doing so.

"Every state and local government must get these funds out to ensure we prevent every eviction we can," Biden said in a statement issued July 30.

Diana Phillips, a planner in the Community Services division, noted the Department of Treasury requires recipients of the emergency rental assistance be recertified every three months. The county pays up to a year's worth of bills, however.

"They have to recertify every three months," Phillips said. "We assume they will be eligible for a full twelve months. So we commit a full twelve months to them."

Meanwhile, in Volusia County, 1,371 eviction cases were filed from January to July. Hundreds remain open, but the Volusia County Sheriff's Office is not evicting in cases related to COVID-19.

"As of this morning, our legal counsel advised the moratorium on evictions has been extended. Evictions are halted until further order of the court," sheriff's office spokesman Andrew Gant said Tuesday.

Deputies served four evictions in the two days the moratorium lapsed that would have been prevented by the CDC order, Gant said.

One of those people addressed the Volusia County Council on Tuesday.

"Good morning. I am April Debrow. I am," she paused, and drew in a quick breath. "Currently homeless. I am one of millions of people who are homeless."

Debrow said she was on a month-to-month lease and was evicted when it expired. She said her family was quarantining at the time because her teenage son had contracted COVID-19.

"We were basically in panic mode trying to find a place to go and find help and the help that's in Volusia County is really not helping people. It's a long, lengthy process and what do we do? Where do we go? We don't have any answers. Yes, there's money, but how do we get it?" she said. "The help that is out there is not really helping us at all."

The county's community services director, Dona Butler, took Debrow's information and spoke with her that morning. Butler said the woman had submitted an application for rental assistance about two weeks earlier, but not all the paperwork was complete.

"You can't move forward until you have all of your documents in," Butler updated the council several hours later. "She had submitted them online, but they hadn't been reviewed yet."

They switched caseworkers, determined Debrow qualified for 12 months of rental and utility assistance, with the stipulation that she must recertify every three months, and gave her a letter stating such.

"She has been evicted, so it is going to be a little bit more challenging for her to find an apartment, but hopefully this letter will help her, because the landlord will know when they're signing a lease with her that she has a letter saying she will be covered," Butler said.

Volusia County prioritizes those who have been unemployed for more than three months and take in 50% or less of the area's median income, $65,400 for a family of four. The priorities stairstep down from there.

The federal eviction moratoriums only applied in cases where there is nonpayment rent and Rumph said some landlords are taking advantage of this loophole.

"We're seeing a lot of people evicted and requesting double rent for tenants failing to vacate after expiration of a lease. We're seeing a lot more landlords saying, 'Hey, you're not keeping the place clean,'" Rumph said.

Caeners said one of her clients didn't know about it and was holding off on evicting for months.

"He kind of sat there with a bunch of different unpaying, destructive tenants in his properties, because he thought he couldn't do anything," she said. "There are people that are gaming the system. Landlords who've said, 'I know they haven't lost their job.' They work in the medical field. They're going to work every day."

Rumph said she's seen tenants take advantage, too.

"My mother's a landlord and she had somebody riding on her for about a year, so I have a lot of compassion," she said. "Every time, there's going to be some bad apples. And a lot of people will focus on those bad apples."

She encourages tenants to work in good faith with their landlords.

"If the landlord feels they're being victimized, the first chance they get they will evict you. They see you going to the grocery store, buying school clothes for your kids, but not a nickel in rent," she said. "If you're paying something, it feels better to the landlord and they're more likely to work with you."

Rumph said her eviction calls tripled in July as the moratorium approached. She encourages tenants to get educated about their rights. Her firm offers free five-minute consultations.

"I came to this practice area because I notice tenants in general tend to be confused about what the law is. As a result of that, they lose a lot in court, even when they have winnable cases," Rumph said.

Both lawyers say hearing the cases via Zoom, the norm for more than a year now, has been a positive.

"It was a godsend," Rumph said. "People can have hearings during their lunchbreak. You don't have the, 'I'm running late. I'm stuck in traffic. I have to work.'"

Caeners said the constitutionality of the moratorium was questionable, and the qualifiers it introduced regarding coronavirus spread only served to muddy the waters. They're reevaluated continuously by the CDC.

"This is a moving target," she said.

She said the county assistance moves very slowly and requires a landlord sign an agreement not to evict.

"A lot of landlords wouldn't sign that if they're three, four, six months behind," Caeners said.

Local nonprofits reached by The News-Journal aren't yet hearing many cries for help from people on the verge of losing their apartments or rental homes.

Susan Kelley, who runs the Daytona Outreach Center with her husband, doesn't expect that quiet to last come October.

"I'm sure the fallout will be tremendous," said Kelley, whose agency on Daytona Beach'sNorth Street provides homeless people a place to get coffee and breakfast, a shower, clean clothes, bus passes and counseling, as well as help gathering important personal documents and moving.

Kelley said a lot of people she works with get only $795 per month from Social Security, and $16 monthly in food stamps. It's rarely enough to pay the bills.

"It used to be you could find a $500 efficiency that would include everything," she said. "It's about $750 now for a little old place, or to rent a bedroom."

Buck James, executive director of the Hope Place family shelter on Daytona Beach's north side, also is not seeing a sudden spike in homeless people. He said he's been working with renters and landlords to prevent people winding up on the streets.

"There's still lots of funding out there to help people," James said.

James noted that some local landlords have found ways around the freeze on evictions. They'll wait for someone's lease to run out and then jack up their rent, or accuse the tenant of violating a property rule and refuse to renew the lease, he said.

He expects a lag between when the new rental moratorium is lifted and eviction cases make their way through the court system.

"It can't happen overnight," James said. "It'll be six to eight weeks out before we see any real ramifications."

Rumph said she hopes the flood of evictions, whenever it comes, will at least lead creditors to attach less stigma to an eviction.

"A lot of people are staying put right now. It has caused a housing shortage. That's why rents are escalating right now," she said. "Where are they going to go? Who's going to rent to them? It will be real interesting to see what people do credit-wise."

Caeners said she fears the crisis will have a devastating impact on the rental market.

"You're going to see a lot more month-to-month," Caeners said. "That will create a constant flux in anybody's lives when at any point in time, within 15 days your landlord can tell you to get out."

Staff writers Eileen Zaffiro-Kean and Frank Fernandez contributed to this report.