With the number of coronavirus cases on the rise again and the CDC advising masks be worn indoors, even for the vaccinated, some are wondering if the federal eviction moratorium that expired July 31 will return.
“I don't have anybody right now that I want to evict, which is a wonderful place to be in for a landlord but I know a lot of my fellow landlords aren't so fortunate,” said Nick Kasoff, a St. Louis area landlord who owns 15 rental properties in Ferguson.
Although Congress is set to review the possibility of reinstating the tenant eviction moratorium on Oct. 18, Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-Missouri) has advocated for extending it forever.
“Evictions are violence,” she said on Twitter. “Evictions are deadly. Evictions are continuing despite moratoriums. Moratoriums are not enough. We need to cancel rent.”
Kasoff, whose representative is Bush, scoffed at the suggestion.
“I don't know who she thinks is going to make the house payments, pay for the furnaces, the repairs, and property taxes,” he said “She wants to extend it forever. Fortunately, she has very few peers who share her view. So, that’s not going to happen.”
Reuters reported that the CDC declared a federal eviction moratorium to stop the spread of the coronavirus and avoid mass homelessness during the pandemic lockdowns, however Missouri has never adopted a state ban on evictions, according to media reports.
“There are literally hundreds of millions of dollars in rental assistance available to Missouri residents who are in need,” Kasoff said.
“Now that we’re at the end of this horrible moratorium, people just need to simply get with the program and sign up for either the state program or the county program, or if you're in the city, they've got one as well. You can do it all online. You don't have to go to any offices. You don't have to make any phone calls and they usually will credit your rent and get you out of trouble. I can tell you that from personal experience.”
The problem with the county program, according to Kasoff, is that it’s glacially slow and the process is inefficient.
“If the county would step up their game and get landlords paid promptly, I think that would go a long way toward avoiding these issues because some landlords might not be able to wait to get aid with no assurance that it's going to happen,” he said. "I can see where some landlords might not be able to wait to get aid with no assurance that it's going to happen."
In addition to owning properties, Kasoff ran against Scott Fitzpatrick in last year's election for state Treasurer as a libertarian and lost.
“I've got a couple of tenants who did run into COVID-related problems and one of them successfully navigated the county tenant assistance program with my help and another one is working through that right now,” he said.
“The last tenant who went through the county program owed me about $10,000 in rent. There's so much money in that program that they can write checks like that. So, the resources are out there if people get with the program and if the county and the state would be more efficient in processing.”