Eviction Hearings Pick Up Georgia After Jobless Benefits Shrink

Federal legislation stopped landlords from evicting many renters during a four-month period that ended July 25. The CARES Act included a 120-day moratorium for renters who participate in federal housing assistance programs or live in a property with a federally backed mortgage.  

Although Georgia did not officially stop all evictions, the state Supreme Court’s emergency order that courts should only take up essential matters had the same effect, said Susan Reif, director of the Eviction Prevention Project at the Georgia Legal Services Program.

Many of those eviction notices will expire just as courts catch up to a backlog of cases and landlords file new ones, Reif said.

Those cases are playing out in virtual and in-person magistrate court hearings across the state and nationally.

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