Florida's eviction ban on the verge of expiring
TAMPA, Fla. - The clock is ticking for Governor Ron Desantis to decide whether he will, once again, cut renters and homeowners a break if they are not able to make their monthly payment. The current moratorium is set to expire Sept. 1.
If he does extend the moratorium on evictions and foreclosures, that means another month of no rent or house payments for those impacted by the pandemic. However, some landlords fear that could be bad news for them.
The governor first enacted the moratorium back in April to give tenants, who had fallen on hard times due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a break. The goal was that by having this moratorium in place, evictions and foreclosures would be suspended to allow people to buy food for their family and focus on finding a job, instead of worrying about paying rent.
But some landlords have spoken out, voicing concerns that this moratorium was affecting their income as some tenants seemed to take advantage of the moratorium as an excuse to not pay rent even though they could.
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The last time the governor extended the moratorium, he did make some changes to the order. He stated that only people who were adversely affected by the pandemic were included in the moratorium, meaning those lost their jobs or took a severe pay cut.
However, according to the office of Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, 100,000 new unemployment claims rolled in just last week.
The governor’s moratorium is not a free pass. If Desantis does not decide to extend it, tenants will still need to pay up for the months of rent or house payments they missed. For those who don’t have the money now, they said they’re afraid they will be on the streets if the governor does not extend the order.
At a press conference on Friday, the governor did allude to the fact that he was considering extending this order. He will need to decide today whether or not he’s going to do that as the order expires Tuesday.