Court ruling means Osceola evictions could increase

Evictions in Osceola County — and across the country — are expected to rise now that nationwide protections for renters affected by the pandemic have been struck down.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled last week that the Centers for Disease Control overstepped its authority in halting evictions in September 2020 when using a decadesold statute that authorizes the agency to implement measures like fumigation and pest extermination.

However, a new local program to connect landlords and tenants in eviction court with untapped federal funds to pay back rent could help temper the uptick and keep people housed amid the current surge in COVID-19 cases.

In early August, Osceola County placed a county liaison at the courthouse to steer landlords and tenants toward the federal assistance program in anticipation of the eviction moratorium coming to an end.

The Osceola County eviction prevention liaison will be available Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on the 2nd floor of the courthouse. If a landlord has filed an action of eviction for non-payment of rent, residents can contact 407-742-8440 or email evictionassist@osceola.org to make an appointment with the liaison.

“We want to try to bridge that gap. We have the money available and we want to help people and we want to keep people in their homes,” County Commissioner Cheryl Grieb, said.

But it’s renters, not landlords, who must file the paperwork required to get up to 12 months of back rent and utilities paid up.

“We knew the moratorium wasn’t going to last forever,” said Osceola County Clerk of the Court Kelvin Soto. “We absolutely expect to see evictions increase but this program could help. It’s good that it was put into place ahead of this happening.”

The moratorium was only available in hightransmission communities like Osceola County. And it didn’t stop all evictions, but instead gave renters able to prove pandemicrelated financial hardship a reprieve, allowing them to stay in their homes — an option no longer available to them.

There were 864 evictions processed in Osceola from March 2020 through August 2021, most of which resulted in eviction. Currently, there are 713 pending eviction cases in the county, many of which can now move forward, according to Soto’s office. ?The ruling is a boon for landlords, who the Supreme Court said have been unfairly burdened by the cost of the pandemic despite billions in federal aid for renters available through local government.

So far, Osceola County has distributed about $26 million in federal emergency rental assistance. But the $46.5 billion rental aid program created by the federal government to pay rent accrued during the pandemic continues to disburse money at a slow pace. ?Only about $1.7 billion has been distributed so far, according to the Treasury Department, which oversees the Emergency Rental Assistance Program.

An estimated 1.2 million households in the U.S. are likely to face eviction for nonpayment of rent over the next two months, according to a U.S. Census Bureau survey released last week.

About 2.8 million households have applied for aid, but only about 500,000 reported receiving assistance with another 1.5 million waiting for approval, according to the federal statistics.

Federal guidelines to make it easier to apply for aid have been announced, such as allowing applicants to self-report their financial information.

But that won’t be enough to stave off the looming crisis, said U.S. Rep. Darren Soto. He told the News-Gazette he’s lobbying for additional authority for the CDC that would allow it to enact another moratorium as part of the Build Back Better Reconciliation Bill.

“I am disappointed that the U.S. Supreme Court saw fit to terminate an eviction moratorium in the midst of a pandemic,” he said. “COVID-19 cases are spiking in Osceola County as we speak. This ruling will contribute to COVID