LAFAYETTE — The CDC's moratorium, which bans landlords from evicting tenants unable to pay their rent during the pandemic, ends June 30. Millions of Americans are at risk for eviction.
Acadiana Regional Coalition of Homelessness say they continue to get calls from people facing evictions every day, at least a dozen times a day. They expect more calls in the next few weeks.
"We're really concerned about what it's going to look like when it is lifted on June 30th. They say 14% of renters are not caught up with their housing payments," Elsa Dimitriadis said.
According to ARCH, the evictions never stopped, even with the CDC's moratorium in place since last year.
"We're seeing things like suddenly there is a noise violation, or a pet violation, something that otherwise had been overlooked. But now that somebody has fallen behind in their rent, it's easy to find something someone does that is cause for an eviction," Dimitriadis said.
According to, Walter McClatchey Sr. Attorney for Acadiana Legal Service Corporation, the moratorium only protects those evicted for not paying rent.
"It only applies to non payment of rent cases, or non payment of other fees, but there are other grounds of eviction that it does not apply to," McClatchey said.
McClatchey says renters who are served eviction papers should contact an attorney.
"Tenants also need to stay in communication with their landlord about late payments and see if they can work out something with the landlord," McClatchey said.
Those who have lost their income should apply for rental assistance through their parish or the state.
"If they do that, they need to keep copies of those applications, so that they can show the court, in an eviction trial, if it comes to that, that those are their best efforts to get assistance, and if they get served eviction papers, they need to call us," McClatchey said.
According to Lafayette Consolidated Government, more than 1,000 people have applied for rental assistance through LEAP, a program paying a portion of their un-paid rent. More than 300 of the applications were approved. That comes to a total of more than $1,750,000.00, out of the $7 million budget.
CLICK HERE for the LA state assistance program. Or call, 877.459.6555.
Those living in Lafayette parish, need to contact Smile or Catholic Charities of Acadiana.
Additional information can be found by calling 211.
