Congresswoman: Surge in eviction notices

U.S. Rep.

Gwen Moore says eviction notices in Milwaukee surged in the days between when a moratorium expired and when it was reinstated.

Now to a reprieve for thousands, evenmillions of people who may have facedeviction.

The Centers for DiseaseControl has issued a new moratorium onevictions that will last until october3rd.

The new order aims to keep peoplein their homes and prevent the spreadof the covid variant.

It also givesstates more time to push out nearly $47billion in rental assistance.

We'retalking about this with Milwaukee'sDemocratic congresswoman, Gwen moore,Congresswoman, Thanks for being with ustoday.

So this new moratorium onevictions, what impact will it have onyour district people in Milwaukee?Well, thank you for having me and I amso happy that the C.

D.

C.

Extendedthis.

You know, it's not as if themoney's have not been allocated righthere in the city of Milwaukee.

Uh wehave agencies that are prepared todistribute and disperse the money.

It'sjust that there has not been enoughtime to do it.

There is a really highbar to being able to demonstrate andbring the appropriate documentation.

Um,uh, and there's been a surge inMilwaukee.

Um, 8500 people have beenserved so far, but there's been asudden surge since the moratorium endedon the 31st.

So there are a couple of1000 people on the waiting list.

Andthe biggest problem which may surprisemany of you folks who called our officeis really the breakdown incommunication between landlords andtenants.

Um, you can imagine uh, thatnot paying rent for several months hascreated this sort of chaos and wherelandlords and tenants really have towork together to get the paperworktogether in order for the landlord tobe reimbursed and the money can godirectly to the landlord.

So, you know,we really need, I know that there's alot of shame and guilt and so onassociated with not paying your rent,but now is the time to really sort ofrepair whatever kind of relationshipyou have with, especially those smalllandlords so that people can get thedocumentation together because thetenant has to sign off so that thelandlord can get the money.

And whenyou talk about that money, and we said,you know, Congress allocating 46.5billion of rental assistance, I think Isaw the figure that only about threebillion has gone out.

I mean, that thepace of that does that frustrate you?

Imean, this is hurting renters pluslandlords, this is their livelihood.Well, exactly, But that's that'sparticularly why we need the extension.So it's no fault of the renters or thelandlords that this money is sittingthere.

We've already allocated it, umthat it hasn't gone out.

It's verydifficult to push it out to to needypeople.

And I say we have some verycompetent agencies here in the city ofMilwaukee that we're working on it.People who can go to my website, Gwenmoore that house dot gov and find someresources um to be able to apply forthese monies, but I'm asking people tobe patient and this is the reason thatwe needed the moratorium extended uh sothat we could get the money out.

So yes,it's frustrating but just hold on,we've gone through a lot together andnow it's not a time to turn on eachother.

Real estate groups are alreadyfighting the moratorium and a majorityof the Supreme Court justice doubtedthe constitutionality of the previousmoratorium is what the White House didhear legal, do you think?Well, I tell you that is a real seriousquestion.

Um is one of the reasons thatwe have to act with some urgency interms of getting this money out.

Umlandlords are suffering.

I get that, Iunderstand that, but we are rightDuring the worst part of this pandemic.Think about it.

Adrian is worse thanwhat we were experienced and in Marchof 2020 this delta variant is veryvirulent and people need to be housedin order to contain the spread of thisvirus.

We cannot trade.

Um the economicwell being for health and safety.

UhAnd I'm some asking those landlords,you put up with it for this long, justhang on and let us get the money out topeople.

Well, the President himselfacknowledged this will be difficult todefend in court.

So what if the courtsoverturn this eviction moratorium?

Whatthen?

Well, the Lord Durham is onlyuntil October three and so it takessome time to, you know, wind its waythrough court.

And so I would urgerenters and landlords to try to makesure that they're in the queue uh forthis assistance is out there.

I votedfor the $46 billion.

Um and I know thatthose resources are here, uh not onlyin the state of Wisconsin, But you gotabout $337 million, but MilwaukeeCounty and the city of Milwaukee wereallocated funds.

And so I'm reallyproud of having brought those resourceshere.

And now.

I just need, we need thetime to get the money out.

Is thisreally government's role to step inlike this?Well, this is, you know, this is that'swhat the government is for, is toprotect the most vulnerable and give usa sense of the community, you know,free market economies is something thatwe all treasure, but we know that itneeds regulation in order to work.

Uhthis is the kind of democracy that wehave and really protecting the healthand safety of people is thegovernment's role.

Congresswoman moore.Thank you and thank you for having menext state lawmakers cracking down onCovid mandates on UW campuses.Yeah.Mhm.