On Thursday, Elijah Lord, 19, was in a state of despair and confusion as he packed up the apartment that he and his three brothers have lived in for two years. The day before, he received a writ of possession from the Pinellas County Sheriff's office, giving them less than 24 hours to leave the property.
They are now facing homelessness for the first time in their lives.
Lord and his brothers don’t have any family in the area to stay with. So now, they are choosing which belongings to leave and which ones they want to try to fit into a car that they might be living in as soon as this weekend.
Despite the dire situation, Lord is holding onto hope. “I keep thinking of the saying, ‘This too shall pass,’” he told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay.
After the Biden administration’s eviction moratorium was shot down by the Supreme Court last week, landlords have rushed to remove tenants in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, along with the rest of the country, who were previously protected by the rule.
The writ of possession is the final step of the eviction process. It notifies renters that they must leave the property immediately under threat of arrest, and casts people out of their homes during a still-raging COVID-19 pandemic.
From Aug. 1 until Sept. 2, 445 “writs of possession” were served in Hillsborough, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office (HCSO). The Pinellas County Sheriff's Office (PCSO) told CL that 235 writs have been served since August.
Lord says he had a job interview on Thursday but instead had to pack up his belongings at his apartment in Osprey Point. The eviction has upended his attempt to become more stable during the pandemic.
“They say it was because of back rent, but I was very vocal about all the problems going on in our apartment,” Lord told CL. “There was mold, and the air conditioning, dishwasher, and kitchen sink were messed up.”
CL sent emails and left voicemails asking Osprey Point management how many people at the complex are being evicted, and to get a response to Lord’s claims, but did not receive an answer.
Thousands affected in Tampa Bay, millions across the country
Lord said that renters shouldn’t stay quiet about their situations, because thousands of people in Tampa Bay and millions across the country face similar situations.
With the moratorium expired, livelihoods are on the line. According to the Hillsborough County Clerk of Courts, as of Friday, there are over 2,500 eviction cases currently pending. Pinellas Courts said that over 1,000 cases are pending for eviction cases filed since January.
“The moratorium essentially stopped the eviction clock at 5 minutes to midnight,” Tom DiFiore, head of the housing unit at Bay Area Legal Services told CL. “With the moratorium expiring, the clock started again, and Tampa Bay renters are facing writ of possession.”
DiFiore says that the renters who are currently at most risk are those whose landlords have already gone to the final stage of the eviction court process and are waiting for writs because the courts are likely to acknowledge those cases first.
Those who are at the writ stage have an option to file a motion with the court to stay or stop the writ, says DiFiore, but they need a legal reason for that, such as having applied for rental assistance that hasn’t come through yet, or proof that the tenant has made an attempt to pay the landlord but didn’t receive a response.
If a renter doesn’t have a legal reason to stop or stay the writ, DiFiore says the best thing to do is to get belongings out of the property before the landlord puts them out on the street.
“While the supreme court’s judgment is disappointing, [Bay Area Legal Services is] focusing efforts on advising renters with questions and looking at cases where rental assistance can help settle the situation,” DiFiore says.
On Sept. 17, DiFiore and Bay Area Legal Services will host a landlord and tenant rights forum at the University Area Community Center—located at 14013 N 22nd St. in Tampa—to address rising evictions.
The writs never stopped during the pandemic
While over a hundred and fifty writs have been posted on renter’s doors by Hillsborough and Pinellas County Sheriffs since the moratorium expired on Aug. 26, plenty were being issued by judges before that, despite the moratorium.
A Hillsborough Courts document obtained by CL shows the moratorium slowed eviction filings for a few months of 2020, but the writ stage continued in Hillsborough throughout the eviction moratorium. According to the court’s numbers, in October of 2020, writs filed by the court reached 668, the high for that year.
Judges were making these decisions based upon whether or not tenants had made declarations of being unable to pay rent under the Center For Disease Control’s Eviction Moratorium. If they didn’t take this step, or if the judges found other reasons why the renter did not qualify for protection, the judges would make the decision to move on to writ.
Renters organize to protect each other
Back at Osprey Point apartments, nine members of the St. Pete Tenants Union (SPTU) and Tampa Tenants’ union gathered to support Elijah Lord and his brothers on Thursday. They contacted a local legal group, and hope to get a legal “stay of writ,” because of Lord’s attempt to get rental assistance.
“We don’t want to see people living out in the streets or in their cars,” said Karla Correa with SPTU. “It’s a public health issue. We’re calling on Biden and the federal government to stop this process that was enacted by the Supreme Court, an unelected group of people who are siding with the rich and leaving the poor to struggle. We have to challenge this.”
Lord’s writ notice said that the premises needed to be vacated by 9:20 a.m. on Thursday, but by Friday afternoon, he was still preparing while the union members waited to see if PCSO would arrive at the property.
Lord is trying to stay on the bright side, and he plans to talk about his experience on his podcast when things are less hectic for him.
“I’ve been immersed in thought during all of this, but at the same time I’m trying to keep my mind clear,” Lord says. “But I keep thinking that people have to speak up about their situations, and we have to come together as we’re going through these tough times.”
UPDATED: Updated on 09/03/21 at 4:52 p.m. with pending eviction numbers in Pinellas County.
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This article appears in Sep 9-15, 2021.