With The Eviction Ban Over, Here’s How One City Is Hustling To Help Those Who Need It

Enlarge this image

Tenants facing eviction wait to speak with attorneys from Memphis Area Legal Services in Room 134 of the Shelby County General Sessions Court in Memphis, Tenn.

Liz Baker/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Liz Baker/NPR

Enlarge this image

«Hopefully I find something before it’s too late,» says Kyla Savage, standing outside the courthouse.

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

Enlarge this image

Dorcas Young Griffin’s office oversees the emergency rental assistance program for Shelby County, Tenn.

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

Enlarge this image

A sign at the courthouse points to the room where tenants can get help applying for rental assistance.

Liz Baker/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Liz Baker/NPR

Enlarge this image

Josh Kahane is an attorney who represents landlords in Memphis. «In the world we’re currently facing, having mass evictions is probably not in anyone’s best interest,» he says.

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

hide caption

toggle caption

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

Josh Kahane is an attorney who represents landlords in Memphis. «In the world we’re currently facing, having mass evictions is probably not in anyone’s best interest,» he says.

Laurel Wamsley/NPR

«For most of my clients, I’ve tried to push them both on the element of: This will help you recover some of the past rent delinquencies that exist, and also in the world we’re currently facing, having mass evictions is probably not in anyone’s best interest,» he says.

Kahane practices in six other states that had still been under the CDC ban — and where, he says, the disbursement programs are not working so well.

Direct assistance to tenants is possible if landlords won’t accept the money

Landlords aren’t required to accept the federal money, and they can move to evict people if they want to.

Turner, the legal aid attorney, says when landlords won’t take the funds, the tenant who is approved for rental assistance can receive funding directly.

But in that case, the tenant is going to need to find a new place to live – and affordable housing is hard to come by. «The rental market is extraordinarily tight,» Turner says. «We have a lot of investors flooding in from other states who find our real estate more affordable. It is getting hard to rent.»

One of the people Turner helps in Room 134 is Willie Adams. He was working in delivery for a restaurant when he got very sick with COVID-19 last summer. Worried about further exposure, he stopped doing deliveries, and he’s now seven months behind on rent.

«I work for tips, so my income got cut. I only make a fourth of the money that I was making before the virus started and before I got sick,» says Adams, 58.

It takes him a week to finish his application for rental assistance, after getting help from a tech-savvy friend, tracking down his landlord, and making another trip to Room 134.

He says he’ll feel a lot better once he knows the money will come through. With millions of Americans behind on the rent, that’s a feeling shared by many.

NPR National Desk producer Liz Baker contributed to this report.