Originally published July 16, 2020, by Baris Gursakal, for High Ground News
A national wave of evictions loom as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to build momentum. Memphis could be one of the nation’s hardest-hit metropolitan areas.
There is no comprehensive list of national eviction information, but reports show disturbing national trends and signs of a wave of mass evictions.
Courts are open or reopening, businesses are closing again, and unemployment is at its highest since the Great Depression. According to CNBC, 32% of U.S. households have not made their July housing payments, most of which were due July 1.
Up to 28 million Americans are at serious risk for eviction.
In the Soulsville area of South Memphis, The Works, Inc. is taking steps to help their tenants and mortgage holders stay in their homes.
“A lot of people lost their jobs, and didn’t have a steady income,” said Tanja Mitchell, director of community engagement at the nonprofit community development corporation.
“In addition to being worried about the pandemic, health, and social distancing, we also knew that our residents had a need and a concern about [housing]—’How am I going to pay my rent?,’ or ‘How am I going to pay our mortgage?'”
When Shelby County civil courts resumed operations in June, the Commercial Appeal reported a backlog of 9,000 eviction notices, but most were pending pre-shutdown.
“The evictions that just hit were already happening. They were not as a result of COVID,” said Roshun Austin, President and CEO of The Works. “The thousands of evictions were already set to happen because they happen every month.”
A direct comparison can’t be made between for-profit property management companies and a nonprofit like The Works, which has grants and subsidies to support gaps in payments. But ultimately, nonprofits lenders and landlords are still responsible for their residents’ debts.
Letters from landlords and property management companies nationwide demanding full payment and threatening eviction started making the rounds on social media as early as March.
“I saw some letters, not from us of course, that were real,” Mitchell said. “I really couldn’t believe that here we are in the middle of a pandemic, something that is new to the entire world, and you actually had landlords who were harassing their tenants to get their rent on time.”
“We did the complete opposite.”
THE WORKS’ WAY
In late March, The Works mailed out letters, sent emails, and made phone calls asking their renters and homeowners if they were experiencing a loss of income or other hardships resulting from the public health crisis.
The CDC aided seven mortgage holders by deferring their mortgage payments. They also provided five renters with a cumulative $5,000 in rental assistance. They then paused all negative credit reporting until August.
“We did the human thing, we did the right thing. We worked with them to see how much they could contribute, and we would make up the difference,” said Mitchell.
Mitchell said they’re also providing a payment modification option at the end of the deferral period.
“We will take any remaining balance and recalculate their loan. What that will do is add a month or two at the end of the term [rather than eviction],” she said.
The Works does the human thing from the beginning of their resident relationships.
They recognize that low- and moderate-income renters and borrowers, especially black residents, may not have the credit that traditional landlords and lenders require. They know there are substantial barriers to accessing that credit and that those barriers were intentionally placed. The CDC uses non-traditional measures like consistent payment of phone bills to approve their residents.
They help residents establish household budgets that include emergency contingency plans, but no plans could foresee a months-long global pandemic.
Austin is concerned residents won’t be able to stretch their remaining funds through fall.
“I don’t think we’ve seen the worst of COVID,” she said. “I’m looking at what’s going to happen in August, September, and October. I always predicted that the fall was going to be the worst time for families already on the edge.”
MEMPHIS: THE “EVICTION CAPITAL” OF THE U.S.
The U.S. was in a housing crisis before the pandemic. The Memphis Business Journal dubbed Memphis “the country’s eviction capital” as early as 2017 when a Apartment List study of its 8 million users and 41,000 surveys showed the highest rate of prior evictions in the country
Those evictions were primarily targeted at black Memphians, even when adjusting for income and education.
At the 2019 State of Memphis Housing Summit, city officials and local experts confirmed that private equity firms and large-scale property management companies are a major part of the problem.
More than 40% of Memphis’ rental property owners reside outside of Tennessee with no connection to the city or their tenants. They’re aggressive with evictions and are high-volume contributors to code violations and in-home environmental hazards.
June 15 was the first day Shelby County courts reopened to eviction hearings. Three large property companies were on the docket for 64 evictions between them.
Now the city braces as the swell of COVID-19 evictions reach the courts.
This story was originally published July 16, 2020 by High Ground News.
Pinnacle Financial Partners is the exclusive Community Sponsor of StoryBoard Memphis.