Legal Aid of East Tennessee Attorney Predicts "True Nightmare" of Evictions

Housing advocates and progressive legislators have pleaded for extensions on the protections and warned that the crisis isn’t over; the coronavirus is still spreading, and people are still suffering. Many states are still struggling to process unemployment benefits and get checks out to the newly poor.

“You’re going to have so many families with no income, and no prospect of income — they’re not going to be able to pay rent and get new housing because they don’t have a job; they don’t have deposit money,” said Russell Fowler, director of litigation and advocacy at Legal Aid of East Tennessee. “It’s going to be a true nightmare.”