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Although many anticipated the passing of 2020, for others the end of December had loomed as the date marking the end of protections from being evicted because of non-payment of rent.
With the signing of the most recent stimulus package, that deadline has been extended until the end of this month, even as the pandemic continues to affect the economy across the country. People are again faced with the possibility of losing their housing at the end of the month.
Valerie Fessler, director of development and community development at the American Rescue Workers, sees the new year as the time when the crisis will hit many people.
"Here's what we're seeing currently. We have an expectation that the eviction crisis related to COVID at American Rescue Workers will be experienced in 2021," she said.
Fessler said the shelters saw many clients leave due to initially receiving unemployment benefits on the grounds that they could not find work due to the pandemic, a claim which officials have since stated does not qualify someone for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance.
"Under the federal CARES Act, PUA claimants self-certify that their unemployment is due to the COVID-19 pandemic and, once their identity is verified, L&I immediately begins paying their benefits," said Sarah DeSantis, press secretary for the state's Department of Labor and Industry. "Most of the claimants incorrectly self-certified due to confusion over the rules of the program."
Additionally, Fessler admitted there are people who chose not to pay their rent even though their income may not have been affected by the pandemic. These people now are finding themselves with thousands of dollars of back rent due, which the Rescue Workers is not financially able to help with.
"It's difficult for us because our goal is helping individuals with rental assistance and being good stewards of the money given by our donors to do so," Fessler said.
"Our goal is to give someone money for rental assistance to help them prevent homelessness," she added.
Looking ahead, Fessler said that when the moratorium ends, they are expecting to see not only people who have chosen not to pay their rent, but people who have loss of income due to the pandemic.
"Before the COVID crisis hit, we had on average 65 people that came to the American Rescue Workers each month that we did not have the funds to help. You take that into consideration with the potential COVID income losses, and we could be seeing a real up-tick in need that our community doesn't currently have the resources to meet," she said.
For Family Promise, according to Executive Director Jenny Hull, the late spring and early summer months brought few referrals. The agency tries to get families and landlords to work together to avoid evictions when the moratorium ends.
The agency saw an up-tick around the beginning of September, Hull said.
"Our shelter was full. Our transitional housing was full and we were getting families on our waiting list," she said, attributing this to the end of the first eviction moratorium.
"Many people who were lower income did not understand the moratorium. So, when they were calling us, part of this is education, trying to educate them what the moratorium means to them – which doesn't mean I don't have to pay rent. It means that if there is an issue, your landlord can't evict you," she said.
"But, you still need to work with your landlord and that's what we really focus on," she added. "Now what we're seeing is that landlords are unable to get people who aren't able to pay or who aren't making any effort to pay out of the house. So, they're giving 10-day written notices to quit. It's kind of an intimidation tactic."
"Part of what's happening is the support for the landlords is not there. So, people who have lost their jobs and are lower income are kind of stuck. Restaurants aren't open and we're seeing that second wave come through, so now that economic factor is really hitting home," she explained.
Hull noted that a lot of the people who are apply to Family Promise are in the restaurant industry as well as those involved in travel.
When people contact Family Promise, the first thing they focus on is prevention.
"We try very hard to work with landlords. To work with renters by providing some United Way money that we've received and from a grant from Help Us Move In that helps people stay in their homes. That doesn't always work, though" Hull stated.
When that happens, Family Promise provides a shelter to families that provides rooms, food and intensive case management to help people work on the financial part of their lives. Families can remain at the shelter for four to six months.
The last part of their program is transitional housing which can last for 24 to 36 months for families who are working and need extra time.
"For us, it's really about case management. Building those relationships both with the people who are looking for help and the landlords, United Way and other local services, so we can prevent homelessness," Hull said.
"We want to work ourselves out of a job," she added.
Hull, like Fessler, sees an increase in requests for housing after the first of the year.
Hull is hopeful that the moratorium is going to be extended, but if it isn't she feels there is just going to be a "deluge."
"We're going to have to figure that out. COVID cases are going up and where are we going to put the most vulnerable people? We work with families so our goal is to get kids into a stable environment," she said.
"I expect that hotels are going to be very busy and those are going to be the lucky families. The ones who have cars or can afford a hotel. I would not be surprised if people were on the street. That would be very unfortunate," she continued.
"As far as we go, we're going to do what we can with the space that we have to continue to provide for families and keep them off the street," she added.