Lawyers Fear a “Tsunami” of Evictions When State Moratoriums End

There are moratoriums preventing landlords from evicting residents in all but five states at the state or local level due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. But lawyers who work with low-income clients told BuzzFeed News that despite moratoriums and stay-at-home orders landlords and property owners are still trying to force people out.

“The cases that we are seeing are people who are changing locks without a marshal — just the landlord doing it themselves, an illegal lockout,” said Edward Josephson, director of litigation for Legal Services NYC.  

Legal services providers said that once state officials lift temporary eviction moratoriums, they’re bracing for a flood of calls not only from existing low-income clients but also from newly unemployed Americans unable to afford housing and facing eviction.

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