Until the pandemic, Jacob Brown paid his rent every month.
But that was before the 24-year-old independent tattoo artist watched the snowballing coronavirus shut down business after business, including his own; before his client base failed to pick back up as the economy reopened.
It seems nobody wants to get come out to a tattoo shop these days, he said.
“I paid rent every month until the pandemic,” Mr. Brown said. “And then when the pandemic hit, money was so scarce, I had to take care of her. I have to think about her well-being,” he said motioning to his 1-year-old daughter, Sarenitie.
Mr. Brown, his fiancee, Jade Eighmey, and Sarenitie now find themselves among the 333 households scheduled to appear in court for eviction hearings, which resume again on Monday, after Toledo Housing Court postponed such matters for 11 weeks to comply with Ohio’s social distancing orders.
The court plans to first hear eviction cases that started before the pandemic, but had to be paused when everything shut down. By the middle of the month, hearings that relate to evictions that would have occurred mid-pandemic will begin, and experts say they will test the community’s position on eviction leniency during unprecedented financial hardships, could determine if landlords were compliant with federal eviction protections instituted during the pandemic, and will beg the question, how long can renters afford to carry on with so many out of work, and so many struggling to get by?
On April 6, the couple’s landlord, George Chung, served them a notice to vacate the premises of their apartment on Oak Street in East Toledo, according to Toledo Municipal Court filings. Toledo Municipal Court postponed eviction hearings on March 15, instead only hearing in-custody defendant cases as the pandemic worsened.
Mr. Brown said he asked Mr. Chung for some help working out a “payment plan,” during the pandemic, but that Mr. Chung, whom he has rented multiple properties from for around eight years, declined.
“He wanted all his money in full. Even though I was giving him half the rent,” Mr. Brown said.
Ms. Eighmey, 20, who has lived at the Oak Street apartment with Mr. Brown for around a year, said she’s just asking for some sympathy during the difficult time.
“It’s not easy, we have to buy diapers and all kinds of other stuff for her,” she said.
Mr. Chung, the sole proprietor of GTC and Associates, the company that owns the Oak Street apartment, has filed to evict nine tenants according to public records. Eight of the nine tenants facing evictions were served notices to leave premises on April 6, while one tenant received a notice back on March 4 before court was postponed. Mr. Chung said he has made many concessions with his tenants during this difficult period, but added many of them hadn’t made payments in months.
Mr. Chung, like many landlords during the unprecedented pandemic, contends that he has his own financial matters to attend to, and he’s not receiving any government aid. That reality, he says, limits his ability to be more lenient on non-payments, even as the pandemic has caused more than 40 million unemployment claims across the country and has killed more than 100,000 Americans.
“The bank is not going to give me a break,” he said. “Mortgage payments are going to be due regardless. When all this is over, I still owe money to the IRS.”
Federal protections
The coronavirus pandemic has prompted the government to attempt to provide aid, protection, and some assistance to Americans in multiple ways.
In Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine signed an executive order on April 1 to suspend rent payments for small business and commercial tenants for 90 days.
Under the federal CARES Act, which was signed into law by President Trump on March 27, an immediate moratorium was placed on evictions for landlords who receive subsidized rent payments until July 25 for purposes of non-payment of rent. Tenants living in federally-subsidized housing or housing that has a federally-backed mortgage such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, are protected under the act as well.
George Thomas, vice president and general counsel at The Fair Housing Center, said his organization has identified some instances of eviction hearings scheduled in Toledo that could be in violation of the act. The Fair Housing Center penned a memo that was shared with Housing Court Judge Joseph J. Howe, calling for specific attention to the issue.
In the letter, Mr. Thomas told the judge that his organization reviewed the housing court docket for June and “found multiple examples of what appears to be an obvious violations of the CARES Act.”
“I don’t think there was very much time to educate the public on the CARES Act,” Mr. Thomas told The Blade. “It’s not like there’s a federal agency that will be enforcing it. It’s really just up to us at the community level as we’re seeing evictions filed.”
“We want to ensure tenants know what their rights are,” he added.
Judge Howe said oversight for compliance of the CARES Act “falls” on himself and two other magistrates who will be handling the resumed proceedings.
“The landlord is going to be under oath,” he said. “So a lot of these folks, some provisions of the CARES Act, it depends on what kind of loan you have. And whether the landlord has in fact availed himself of the protections under the CARES Act. And that's not necessarily something the court would know off-hand. But they're going to have to be under oath and testify to certain questions from the magistrate.”
‘They’re being understanding’
Judge Howe said he hopes many cases scheduled to go before his court can be worked out among tenants and landlords beforehand.
“It’s a balancing act here in Toledo,” Judge Howe said. “We were hit hard in 2008 with the foreclosure crisis and it’s a rough, rough balancing act. A lot of these tenants were probably good tenants, have been, and maybe through no fault of their own, got caught in the shut down and now they’re not able to pay rent. And you got the other side, where you’ve got people that maybe can’t make their housing payments. And the last thing Toledo needs is to have another foreclosure crisis, because that doesn’t help anybody.”
But Judge Howe is confident that cooperation will end some of the hearings before they hit his desk.
“I spoke to some attorneys and landlord groups and they know that,” he said. “They’re being understanding. If they had a good tenant that’s always been paying rent, except for this, they’re inclined to keep that tenant and work with them rather than getting somebody new they don’t know.”
Such was the case with Neighborhood Properties, Inc., a permanent supportive housing agency that provides affordable housing for people with mental disabilities. Though initially scheduled to resume five eviction hearings, three of which were for non-payment, the agency dismissed the cases on Thursday according to NPI executive director John Hoover and his attorney Kevin Ferguson.
“I just felt that those cases probably should not go forward,” Mr. Hoover said, noting that it was a decision he came to after discussing the situation with Mr. Ferguson who had consulted with the court. “...We try to work with tenants and work with tenants and work with tenants. I sort of saw that once COVID-19 hit and everything was shut down that eventually the courts will probably shut down their action and we would not be going forward with some of these legal remedies.”
Mr. Ferguson said NPI will continue to comply and not file evictions during the CARES Act’s 120-day moratorium that began on March 27.
“We decided, to err on the side of prudence, we’re going to dismiss them,” Mr. Ferguson said. “I don’t think the court would hear anything for non-payment of rent until probably after August.”
As of Thursday, 35 eviction cases have been dismissed since March 27, according to data from Toledo’s clerk of courts. Judge Howe thinks that trend will continue throughout the month.
But CARES Act or no CARES Act, state and local moratoriums or no moratoriums, national housing activists are calling on landlords to avoid evictions on the basis on non-payment of rent, entirely, for the time being.
“Nobody should be evicted during a pandemic,” said Eric Dunn, director of litigation with the National Housing Law Project, a nonprofit that has offices in San Francisco and Washington D.C. “...From an ethical and moral standpoint, absolutely not. It’s just the worst idea. When you look at what an eviction entails... it’s completely incompatible with any kind of social distancing. And not to mention, where does the person go now if this is the only housing they have?”
For Ms. Eighmey, who says she doesn’t currently have an eviction on her record, that’s her biggest concern.
“Once you get an eviction on your record, it’s hard to get in anywhere,” she said.
Have you dealt with evictions or other housing related issues during the coronaivrus pandemic? The Blade wants to hear from you. Contact Brooks Sutherland at 419-724-6154 or bsutherland@theblade.com, and Sarah Elms at 419-304-3130 or selms@theblade.com
First Published May 31, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
