End of eviction moratorium, rising home prices threaten new wave of homeless in Brevard
As Florida courts struggle to catch up with the backlog of eviction cases that were on hold over the past year because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more and more Brevard residents living close to the edge of poverty are finding themselves in danger of losing the roof over their head with nowhere to go.
The federal eviction moratorium issued in response to the novel coronavirus ended on Aug. 26, marking a return to landlords moving to push people out of their homes because they've fallen behind on rent or run afoul of their housing contract.
Now adding to the problem, according to homeless advocates and legal experts concerned about a sudden spike in homelessness on the Space Coast, is that a big increase in local home and rental prices is pushing many people out of the housing market.
Alesha Montanez is one such struggling renter in Palm Bay. Even without an eviction on her record, Montanez said the housing situation is becoming nearly unnavigable for anyone without a perfect payment and credit history.
"Me and my husband have NO criminal history NO evictions and good rental history but because of pricing going up and credit now being huge portion we have become so stuck," she wrote on Facebook.
"Why is it so hard to find a home in the South Brevard area from Palm Bay to Melbourne?" she asked. "The ones that do become available we get denied for having a low credit score ... with two weeks to be out, the anxiety has doubled."
At the rate things are going, Montanez said she and her family may end up living in a hotel, spending more money than they were before for a worse living situation.
"We're saving every dollar we can hoping to save first last and a deposit. We have no room to breathe," Montanez said.
For those who live paycheck to paycheck like Montanez, any hiccup could mean homelessness.
"My kids and I got done with quarantine for two weeks and luckily I got a laptop to work from home. I was still out of pay for a week when I was sick," she added.
Without food stamps and help from extended family, Montanez isn't sure her family could survive.
In August, 204 eviction lawsuits were filed in Brevard County according to the clerk of courts, compared to173 filed in July and 165 in August of 2020. There were 120 evictions filed since the moratorium was lifted Aug. 26. In 2020, the clerk of courts reported 1,736 evictions filed. In 2021, 1,394 evictions have been filed so far.
By September of last year, renters in Brevard County faced 1,113 evictions, putting Brevard on track to exceed last year by over 200 cases even before the lift of the moratorium allowed more to move through the system.
And the threat of an explosion of homelessness is not just a concern in Brevard County or even Florida as a whole. A Goldman Sachs analysis estimated that roughly 750,000 households across the country are facing eviction and that 3.5 million renters nationwide were behind on rent at the beginning of September.
The increase in evictions comes as cities like Melbourne crack down on homelessness.
Jeffrey Hussey, Director of Public Interest and Litigation at Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, said that without the moratorium many people will be left with few options.
Hussey said his organization received 1,300 calls for eviction help in August, and Hussey expects that number to be surpassed by the end of September as more evictions are allowed to move forward.
"Ever since the moratorium expired, we've seen a steady uptick in calls from people. I think some people saw the writing on the wall. Some of them already had evictions filed against them that were on hold, and some of them are being served with new evictions," Hussey said.
A lack of affordable housing in Central Florida means an eviction on a struggling renter's record has "the potential to be a devastating blow," Hussey said.
Not every shelter accepts children, pushing some families into living in cars or hotels, an outcome Hussey said could have been avoided if more federal rental assistance money had been disbursed directly to families.
"All of Central Florida is behind in the amount of money they should have spent," he said.
Stacey Patel, a Democratic party activist who runs the Coronavirus Mutual Aid network to get people assistance and food in Brevard County, said she's seen the devastating effects of the eviction process on local families who are struggling.
Patel said that Brevard County has been "aggressive" in pursuing evictions throughout the pandemic and that the end of the moratorium is only a continuation of existing problems and not something new.
"We've got to figure out some sort of diversion program. Our emergency rental assistance takes so long to apply that you could be evicted before you receive a response," she said.
In the midst of the eviction moratorium lift, Melbourne rent increased 3.8% over the past month, according to Apartment List. Compared to the same time last year, Melbourne's rent has increased by 20.4%. While the price of rent declined in November of 2020, it has continued to rise every month since.
Melbourne's rent growth year-over-year is behind Florida's average of 22.6%, but is higher than the national average of 12.4%, Apartment List said.
That increase in rents—combined with the setbacks an eviction can cause—has created a catch 22 for renters, according to advocates like Patel.
"In Brevard right now, the vast majority of properties require income of three times the rent. The math just doesn't work," she said. "One or sometimes even two jobs can't cover even the most affordable rents out there."
Patel said this creates a situation where families live in motels for $500 a week. "You can't qualify to rent or to own a home, so you end up paying more than renters or homeowners staying in a motel," she said.
And with so many quarantines happening in schools and workplaces, many people are unable to stay home because they'll get kicked out of their motel, so they end up working sick.
Tami Hatten, the community relations and volunteer coordinator at Melbourne's Salvation Army, said the number of calls they've received from those facing homelessness has risen dramatically within recent days. A few days ago, she received four calls in less than 24 hours. The normal rate of these calls is about one or two every one to two weeks.
Melbourne's Salvation Army has a small shelter for women and children with eight apartments. There's usually a waiting list to get in, Hatten said.
"I had a lady call yesterday," she said. "I could tell she was crying, and (she) just said her and her children are homeless. And I couldn't help her."
Hatten said Salvation Army generally tries to refer people to other local services when they're unable to provide them with help.
In addition to their shelter, they also have a food pantry and help provide assistance in paying water and electric bills. Hatten said the goal is to supplement in those areas so those in need can save their money for rent.
Hatten said she's watched people's needs increase over the last couple of months. In spring and into early summer, she said they saw a drop in people needing assistance, which she attributed to the stimulus checks distributed earlier in the year. However, since July, more and more people have come to Salvation Army needing assistance with food, paying bills and housing. The numbers are only increasing in the wake of the eviction moratorium being lifted.
"Normally in a day, we would see about 10 people needing food coming to the food pantry," she said. "Now it's more like 20 families. It's just been slowly ticking up, and now we're seeing a lot more people homeless."
Salvation Army put together a group with local several churches called Brevard Accelerator with the goal of reducing and preventing homelessness in the county. They spent about a month looking for people to form the current group, and will hold a meeting at the end of September to invite other churches and service organizations to join.
"(We want to see) what people are doing, and try to come up with what has worked and what is working now, and what else can we do -- what do people really need right now," Hatten said.
Belinda Stewart, communications manager with 211 Brevard, a not for profit organization that facilitates assistance for those in need, said they received 2,229 calls about housing and shelter needs between July and August of this year. During the six-month period of January through June of 2021, they received 4,907 calls related to housing and shelter needs, while in 2020, they received a total of 10,086 calls related to housing and shelter. Pre-pandemic, between July and December of 2019, they received 4,124 calls about housing and shelter needs.
"Even pre the pandemic, (the needs of the community were) more than local resources could handle," Stewart said. "Even though there have been a lot of government resources added, and there probably are more resources now than we've ever had to help people because of that federal government assistance, there are just more people in need. Despite the fact that there are a lot of those resources out there, there are still a lot of people who, for whatever reason, can't access (those resources)."
Family Promise of Brevard, a non-profit organization, reported an average of 100 to 125 calls regarding housing assistance pre-pandemic. About half of these were requests for assistance with move in costs, not eviction prevention. During the pandemic, the calls have increased to 125 to 150 a month, and close to 80% of them have been for eviction prevention.
July of this year saw the highest number of calls, with the organization receiving 156 calls related to housing assistance.
Emily Walker is a Breaking News Reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Walker at 321-290-4744 or elwalker@floridatoday.com. Twitter: @_emilylwalker