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Thursday, July 16, 2020 | 2 a.m.
The figures are chilling. In an interview with CNBC, Emily Benfer, chair of the American Bar Association’s Task Force Committee on Eviction, said the recent spike in unemployment due to COVID-19 has impacted the ability of historically large numbers of Americans to pay their rent—and it could lead to the evictions of 20 million to 28 million people between now and September. For the sake of comparison, Benfer noted that the 2008 mortgage crisis displaced 10 million people “over a period of years.”
This wave, in one form or another, is headed for Nevada. According to a recent report by the Guinn Center—a local nonprofit, bipartisan research and policy analysis group—some 118,000 to 142,000 Nevada households are at the risk of eviction this fall. (That’s the equivalent of 272,000 to 327,000 people.) And the majority of those evictions could happen in Clark County, with Washoe a distant second.
The full extent of the damage will be evident September 1, when a state moratorium on residential evictions for nonpayment of rent, imposed by Gov. Steve Sisolak back in March, expires. That moratorium delays court evictions and prevents the sheriff from removing people from their homes. Without it, the Guinn Center report states, “Evictions are expected to significantly increase,” as landlords can then begin those legal proceedings and sue tenants for back rent. Evicted tenants will need to scramble to find new homes, will be saddled with mounting debt and will suffer damage to their credit history that could hinder their ability to rent anew.
“The numbers are very scary when you consider the population of our state,” says attorney Bailey Bortolin, policy director for the Nevada Coalition of Legal Service Providers. “[It could] create a brand-new homeless crisis on top of the homelessness crisis we’ve already been dealing with.”
On the other hand, Susy Vasquez, executive director of the Nevada State Apartment Association, says the threat could appear greater than it will be.
“Are we going to have evictions in September? Yes,” she says. “The ones we’re going to initially see are the people that have not communicated with their landlord, have maintained a steady income over the last six months and refuse to pay rent. So they’re essentially squatting. … The governor doesn’t create any type of eligibility component, [so] these people have been allowed to live for free, essentially, which isn’t fair at all to the people that are scraping and scrimping and budgeting and suffering in order to pay their rent.”
Few would deny, however, that good-faith renters are entitled to help, given the circumstances. Nevada and Clark County are both putting together rental assistance funds that should be announced shortly; Las Vegas already has one in place (see sidebar at right). The Nevada Legislature, now meeting in a special session, is considering a number of remedies. And the next six weeks could see a number of Nevadans finally receiving their unemployment benefits among a backlog still numbering in the thousands. Also, landlords “need to maintain a certain level of occupancy in order to stay true with their mortgage company or the mortgage lender,” Vasquez says. That could motivate them to keep good tenants in place.
But even with those mitigating factors, the threat of mass September 1 eviction filings looms large. Aside from the grave financial suffering and displacement of households, there’s a concern that our courts could be swamped with contested eviction cases in the midst of a pandemic. Bortolin notes that Nevada evictions are served without a judicial record: “The courts aren’t aware of how many eviction notices go out,” she says. “They only become involved when somebody chooses to defend themselves.”
No matter what, the wave is coming. And the only way to stand against it, Bortolin says, is with compassion for our neighbors.
“There’s not really another way out, other than trying to help people access the resources that they need,” she says.
Worried about eviction? Take these steps
As coronavirus cases increase in Southern Nevada and businesses are shut down to slow the spread, many Valley residents may soon face financial hardships that could inhibit their ability to pay rent. Here’s what to do if you’ve fallen behind on rent payments, or fear that you might.
1. Talk to your landlord. “I’ve heard from a lot of landlords where the resident has been very proactive and they’ve maintained open lines of communication. Then, all of a sudden, MGM [or] the Culinary Union cuts them a check for the rent that they’re past due, and then they’re good,” says Susy Vasquez, executive director of the Nevada State Apartment Association. “Maintaining a good relationship and good communication with your landlord is imperative right now. I cannot stress that enough.”
2. Learn all you can. “Collect as much information as possible,” says Jim Berchtold, directing attorney for the Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s Consumer Rights Project. “I would get my pay stubs. I would get my unemployment statement. I would talk to my landlord and get a ledger that says exactly how much rent I owe. I would review that ledger to make sure it doesn’t improperly include late fees, so that I know exactly, to the dime, how much that landlord might need to be paid … if I should stay in that unit.”
3. Assess your situation realistically. “It doesn’t make sense to say, ‘I want to pay all my back rent,’ if I’m living in a unit that I can’t afford,” Berchtold says. “If I have [a limited or] no prospect of future employment, have no idea what my unemployment [insurance] is going to kick in or have no idea when I’m going to return to work, maybe I should think about downsizing … moving in with a roommate, moving back home, changing my situation. … I would advise tenants to really take a really critical look at their current situation, start gathering documentation, wait for that [rental assistance] plan to come online and then figure out … how they can use it to most effectively put themselves in the best situation they can be in.”
4. Apply for rental assistance, or look for other kinds of help. Preapplication for the City of Las Vegas Housing Assistance Program has begun and will continue until July 31 or until the funds are depleted; visit lasvegasnevada.gov/residents/housing-assistance-program to begin the application process. Similar assistance programs, provided by Clark County and the State of Nevada, should be available soon; watch for them. If you’d like to find a subsidized apartment suitable for a diminished-income household, visit hud.gov/states/nevada/renting. And if you have legal questions, head to Legal Aid Center of Southern Nevada’s COVID-19 “tool kit”—lacsn.org/covid-19—for a series of “virtual town halls” on evictions and repayment plans.
This story appeared in Las Vegas Weekly.
