Federal Moratorium on Evictions Set to Expire This Week

This Saturday, a federal moratorium on evictions is set to expire. The moratorium, passed in late March as part of the federal CARES act, temporarily blocked evictions on federally-subsidized properties.

The conclusion of the federal moratorium comes two months after the end of Wisconsin’s statewide moratorium on evictions. Before the statewide moratorium, Dane County had its own ban on evictions.

Since the end of the statewide evictions moratorium in May, Eviction Courts have resumed operations online. Heidi Wegleitner, a tenant rights attorney with Legal Action of Wisconsin, says that navigating the new evictions court system has been a challenge.

“It’s been a very confusing landscape for sure, with shifting information, laws and dates and protections. While the [state’s] moratorium was in place, things were relatively stable,” she says.

According to Robin Sereno, President of the Tenant Resource Center, in the one month, since the program was announced, they’ve already run through a significant portion of the funding.

Despite the state and county’s aid, Robin Sereno, President of the Tenant Resource Center, says that the Tenant Resource Center is bracing for a spike in eviction rates when the federal moratorium ends this weekend.

“People with Section 8 vouchers, in subsidized housing that are the lowest income, the first to be laid off and the last to be called back; we fully anticipate a large spike in evictions of those folks.”

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