Congress has allocated billions of dollars in rental assistance, but distribution of funds has been painfully slow.<\/b>
\nGabe Imondi, a 74-year-old landlord from Rhode Island, had come to court hoping to get his apartment back. He was tired of waiting for federal rental assistance and wondered aloud, \u00ab\u00a0What they’re doing with that money?\u00a0\u00bb Hours later, Luis Vertentes, in a different case, was told by a of his one-bedroom apartment in nearby East Providence. The 43-year-old landscaper said he was four months behind on rent after being hospitalized for a time. \u00ab\u00a0I’m going to be homeless, all because of this pandemic,\u00a0\u00bb Vertentes said. \u00ab\u00a0I feel helpless, like I can’t do anything even though I work and I got a full-time job.\u00a0\u00bb Scenes like this played out from North Carolina to Virginia to Ohio and beyond Monday as the eviction system, which saw a dramatic drop in cases before a over the weekend, rumbled back into action. Activists fear millions will be tossed onto the streets as the. The Biden administration allowed the over the weekend, and Congress was unable to extend it. Historic amounts of rental assistance allocated by Congress had been expected to avert a crisis. But the distribution has been painfully slow: Only about $3 billion of the $25 billion initially earmarked for the program had been distributed through June by states and localities. A second amount of $21.5 billion will go to the states. \u00ab\u00a0We’ve been getting calls for many weeks now, and even months, from tenants that are struggling, behind on rent, who are applying for the emergency rental assistance, but it hasn’t reached them yet,\u00a0\u00bb Diane Yentel, president of the National Low Income Housing Coalition, told CBSN Tuesday. \u00ab\u00a0They’re especially terrified with the Delta variant surging. They’re fearing for their lives and their safety. When they lose their homes, they lose their ability to stay safe.\u00a0\u00bb According to the coalition,15 states have distributed almost none of the rental aid they received from the federal government. \u00ab\u00a0The good news is there are sufficient resources to help all tenants who fell behind on rent during the pandemic,\u00a0\u00bb Yentel said. \u00ab\u00a0The $46 billion Congress appropriated is sufficient. The problem is the money is not getting out fast enough.\u00a0\u00bb More than 15 million people live in households that owe as much as $20 billion to their landlords, according to the Aspen Institute. As of July 5, roughly 3.6 million people in the U.S. said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the U.S. Census Bureau’s weekly Household Pulse Survey. In Columbus, Ohio, Chelsea Rivera showed up at Franklin County court Monday after receiving an eviction notice last month. A single mom, she’s behind $2,988 in rent and late fees for the one- bedroom apartment she rents for herself and three young sons. The 27-year-old said she started to struggle after her hours were cut in May at the Walmart warehouse where she worked. She’s applied to numerous agencies for help but they’re either out of money, have a waiting list, or not able to help until clients end up in court with an eviction notice. Rivera said she’s preparing herself mentally to move into a shelter with her children. \u00ab\u00a0We just need help,\u00a0\u00bb she said, fighting back tears. \u00ab\u00a0It’s just been really hard with everyday issues on top of worrying about where you’re going to live.\u00a0\u00bb In Ohio, about, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. But there was more optimism in Virginia, where Tiara Burton,23, learned she would be getting federal help and wouldn’t be evicted. She initially feared the worst when the moratorium lifted. \u00ab\u00a0That was definitely a worry yesterday,\u00a0\u00bb said Burton, who lives in Virginia Beach. \u00ab\u00a0If they’re going to start doing evictions again, then I’m going to be faced with having to figure out where me and my family are going to go. And that’s not something that anyone should have to worry about these days at all.\u00a0\u00bb She was relieved to learn she was approved for assistance through the Virginia Rent Relief Program. Her court hearing was postponed 30 days, during which time she and her landlord can presumably work things out. \u00ab\u00a0I’m grateful for that,\u00a0\u00bb she said. \u00ab\u00a0That’s another weight lifted off of my shoulders.\u00a0\u00bb But for other tenants, getting assistance has proven impossible. After her landlord refused federal assistance to cover $5,000 in back rent, Antoinette Eleby of Miami expects an eviction order within two to three weeks. She is sending her five children to live with her mother in another county. \u00ab\u00a0My main concern is that now that I have an eviction, how will I find another place? Some places will accept you and some will not,\u00a0\u00bb said the 42-year-old, whose entire family got COVID-19 earlier this year. Around the country, courts, legal advocates and law enforcement agencies were gearing up for evictions to return to pre-pandemic levels, a time when 3.7 million people were displaced from their homes every year, or seven every minute, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. Some cities with the most cases, according to the Eviction Lab, are Phoenix with more than 42,000 eviction filings, Houston with more than 37,000, Las Vegas with nearly 27,000 and Tampa more than 15,000. Indiana and Missouri also have more than 80,000 filings. While the moratorium was enforced in much of the country, there were states like Idaho where judges ignored it, said Ali Rabe, executive director of Jesse Tree, a nonprofit that works to prevent evictions in the Boise metropolitan area. \u00ab\u00a0Eviction courts ran as usual,\u00a0\u00bb she said. That was much the way things played out in parts of North Carolina, where on Monday Sgt. David Ruppe knocked on a weathered mobile home door in Cleveland County, a rural community an hour west of Charlotte. \u00ab\u00a0We haven’t seen much of a difference at all,\u00a0\u00bb he said. He waited a few minutes on the porch scattered with folding chairs and toys. Then a woman opened the door. \u00ab\u00a0How are you?\u00a0\u00bb he asked quietly, then explained her landlord had started the eviction process. The woman told Ruppe she’d paid, and he said she’d need to bring proof to her upcoming August 9 court date. Ruppe, who has two young sons, said seeing families struggle day-after-day is tough. \u00ab\u00a0There’s only so much you can do,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0So, if you can offer them a glimmer of hope, words of encouragement, especially if there’s kids involved. Being a father, I can relate to that.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n