Evictions process begins for Southwest Floridians owing landlords rent as moratorium lifts

Some of your neighbors worry they’ll lose their homes after the eviction moratorium expired over on Saturday.

People who can’t pay up are desperate to find a way to stay in their homes, and WINK News spoke with one woman in that exact situation.

Some people fear getting COVID-19, but others fear losing their homes – because of COVID.

The eviction moratorium that has been in place since the early days of the pandemic is no more.

One woman, who did not want to be named, lost her job when the virus swept the nation. “I knew about the eviction moratorium, so I thought I was safe until I, you know, had this pounding on my door happened to be the sheriff’s department taping an eviction notice.”

She has a job that allowed her to stay home with her disabled son. Collier CARES approved her application for rental assistance, but her landlord wouldn’t take it.

Then she applied for state assistance, and she said her landlord wouldn’t take that either.

“I’ve always paid my bills. I’ve always been the one there to help other people. I just assumed that when, you know, when people were in need, you know that, you know that they would help us,” she said.

It turns out landlords are not required to take the money.

And she got her eviction notice.

Now she has a lawyer helping her fight to keep her home.

Kody Glazer, legal director with the Florida Housing Coalition, said, “You know, the emergency is here. I mean, the moratorium expired. Folks are going to be starting to be evicted.”

That process could start happening as soon as the end of this week.