Eviction filings down from pre-pandemic years in region, but need for services still great

In Worcester County, residential eviction filings for nonpayment of rent in 2021 have so far consistently been below 2019 filings on a month-by-month basis in the Massachusetts Trial Court, but they have risen from the low 2020 numbers when the state’s eviction moratorium was in effect, according to data from the state’s dashboard. In 2019, over 3,400 nonpayment evictions have been filed. So far in 2021, over 1,400 have been filed as of October.

Eviction services are the largest area of practice for Community Legal Aid in Worcester’s casework and the organization’s eviction team said the additional funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development will help them carry out eviction protection services when funding from a state program ends at the start of the new year.

Housing and Urban Development announced last week that Community Legal Aid in Worcester would be one of five state legal aids to receive $2.4 million for eviction protection services. The funding will be given out over two years starting in 2022.

Faye B. Rachlin, deputy director of Community Legal Aid said the pandemic has made housing situations more difficult for the organizations client’s.

“While evictions are always a terrible reality for many in our client communities, the pandemic has made people’s ability to sustain their tenancies even harder, and it is more important than ever that tenants get the help they need to prevent the devastating impact of housing insecurity and homelessness,” Rachlin said. “During the pandemic a lot of our eviction defense work has involved helping tenants access rental assistance programs so that landlords can get paid and tenants can remain housed – a win-win for everyone.”

The money comes from inaugural grants for HUD’s Eviction Protection Grant Program. The program is intended to support legal service providers that provide legal assistance to low-income tenants at risk of eviction. Inaugural grants announced Tuesday totaled $20 million.

While Community Legal Aid was the organization that signed the application form for the grant money, the $2.4 million will be disbursed between it and four other legal aid organizations in Massachusetts. The breakdown of the funding is still being worked on. Other recipients will include Greater Boston Legal Services, MetroWest Legal, Northeast Legal Aid and South Coastal Counties Legal Services.

HUD offered grants to organizations nationwide so they could expand resolution options for clients at risk of eviction. Legal service providers serving areas with high rates of eviction or prospective evictions were the main focus of this new grant program.

“As families continue to feel the financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and local eviction moratoria expire, we must continue to do all that we can to prevent evictions and keep people housed,” HUD Secretary Marcia L. Fudge said in a statement. “Research shows that access to legal services and eviction diversion programs can help renters avoid eviction and the many harmful outcomes that come along with eviction actions. These programs can also benefit court systems and landlords by reducing eviction caseloads for local court systems and helping landlords access emergency rental assistance so they can maintain housing quality during these uncertain times.”

The state’s eviction moratorium expired in October of last year and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had its moratorium end in August. After the end of the state’s moratorium, Gov. Charlie Baker’s administration combined state and federal funding to form the Eviction Diversion Initiative to ensure housing stability.

The initiative included financial assistance for homeowners and renters and money to provide legal services through a grant called the COVID Eviction Legal Help Project. Money from the project is set to expire at the end of the year.

Jane Edmonstone, senior supervising attorney of Community Legal Aid’s housing unit, said that eviction filings in 2021 are down on average statewide compared to pre-pandemic years.

Community Legal Aid opens anywhere from 12 to 30 eviction cases on a weekly basis through a program that received funding from the state’s COVID Eviction Legal Help Project.

Edmonstone said that other sections of Community Legal Aid also deal with eviction cases. The organization has taken on more eviction cases this year due to the increased resources they have at their disposal.

Along with reported numbers from the Trial Court, Edmonstone said the District Court also sometimes handles eviction cases that are not included in the state’s tabulations.

In Worcester and statewide, residents have dealt with housing instability in part caused by the cost of housing being high compared to the income of residents and a limited affordable housing stock, Edmonstone said.

“I think the pandemic made that all the much worse where people really felt extreme levels of instability,” Edmonstone said. “Definitely over the past year, year-and-a-half, the huge increase in financial resources for tenants has made a big difference, but we’re still seeing landlords filing eviction cases for nonpayment of rent.”

While over 2,000 rental units are expected to come online in Worcester in the next five years, city economic officials and tenants have said that the city needs more affordable housing and hope federal government programs can address the creation of new affordable units. The Worcester Housing Authority currently has a yearslong waiting list for apartments and Section 8 vouchers

Edmonstone said she has seen anecdotally a trend in eviction filings where smaller landlords have sold their properties so they could be rehabbed into a property with more expensive units, with the current tenants receive notices of eviction. These cases are known as no-cause evictions.

No-cause eviction filings are more difficult to defend against in court because of eviction laws in the state and the legal aid cannot use their state funding for those cases, Edmonstone said.

Downtown Worcester development and the rehabbing of properties that have come with it have led to increases in rent, Edmonstone said.

While the need for eviction protection services has existed since before the pandemic, Community Legal Aid expects the instability caused by the pandemic to continue to affect tenants for years to come. Edmonstone added that tenants with a no-payment eviction filing can face future difficulties in securing an apartment.