Hundreds of families sat lined up on the metal bleachers at Hadley Park Community Center late Thursday, anxiously waiting to apply for rental assistance through the Metro Action Commission’s HOPE program.
The day before, Barbara Peck — a spokeswoman for the Tennessee state court system — said state court attorneys had advised that the newly extended eviction moratorium is “not applicable in Tennessee,” forcing many Tennessee renters to frantically forage for financial assistance.
Brittany Thomas-Tate, a single mother of two, sat nervously, biting her nails at Metro Action’s application event Thursday. Thomas-Tate lives in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom duplex in Hermitage. For months she's struggled to keep a roof over her and her sons’ heads. She says her mother’s help and various federal COVID aid efforts have been the only things keeping her from homelessness, but those two sources of aid began to fade off over the summer months.
She breathed a sigh of relief last week when the CDC announced the new eviction moratorium. She thought it would buy her some time. But less than 24 hours later, she learned the act did not protect her or other Tennessee renters from eviction.
Taped to her door in bold, black letters was an eviction notice. Thomas-Tate said initially she wasn’t too worried. She assumed her landlord was unaware of the new moratorium, so she contacted him for clarification. He informed her that the moratorium does not apply in Tennessee and reminded her she was two months behind on rent. Desperate for help, Thomas-Tate called the Legal Aid Society of Middle Tennessee and the Cumberlands. She spiraled further into fear when the attorney she spoke with broke the news that her landlord was correct.
Landlords have challenged the CDC’s authority to enact an eviction moratorium in federal and state court systems since the federal agency issued the first COVID-related moratorium in September of last year. Last month, judges from the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — which covers Tennessee, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio — ruled that the CDC does not have the legal authority to enact an eviction moratorium.
“In our state, the only option people really have is to seek out rental relief resources,” says Legal Aid Society housing attorney Zac Oswald. “Since our court system said the moratorium is not applicable, it’s very difficult if not impossible to fight the eviction in court. We can try to cut deals with landlords to buy tenants time, but typically, if the landlord has taken the tenant to court, he or she is not interested in working a payment plan out.”
“HOPE is our only hope,” said Thomas-Tate.
The local program is funded by the U.S. Department of Treasury under the Emergency Rental Assistance Program. To date, more than 5,200 Tennessee renters have applied for the aid through HOPE, which began in March of this year.
Lisa McCrady, spokeswoman for the Metro Action Commission, says HOPE initially received $20 million in funding, $13 million of which has already been allocated to renters. She says the program is expected to receive another $9 million this month. Still, it has been difficult for some government agencies to dole out the rental assistance funds. The statewide program for smaller counties has only distributed 4 percent of its hundreds of millions of dollars, The Tennessean reported.
McCrady said the HOPE program can provide up to 15 months of assistance to renters. The money can be used in a variety of different ways, including paying back rent, deposits on new rentals, up to three months of advance rent and legal fees for people who weren’t able to receive aid before being evicted.
The Metro agency has worked with the U.S. Department of Treasury to eliminate as many barriers as possible for those in need.
Since its inception, the program has instituted five amendments to make financial assistance more accessible. McCrady says one of the most crucial amendments was the ability to give money to tenants directly, if landlords will not accept payment from Metro.
In most cases, the Metro Action Commission pays the rent to the landlord directly on behalf of the tenant. However, some landlords have refused payment from the government group for various reasons.
“Some landlords won’t take the money from us because they say the tenant shouldn’t receive help or doesn’t need it," McCrady says. "They make it political."
In the event that a landlord responds that way now, McCrady says they are able to give the money directly to the tenant to pay the landlord.
There are certain income qualifications that those applying for assistance must meet in order to receive help from Metro, but McCrady says 90 percent of the applicants who have applied meet the specifications.
Metro Action isn’t the only entity providing rental relief for Tennesseans. There are rental relief resources available in every county across Tennessee. There’s just a different place to apply depending on whether you live in one of the four largest counties in Tennessee or if you live in the other 91 counties.
Davidson County: Metro Action Hope Rental Assistance Program
Knox County: Knox Housing Assistance Program
Rutherford County: Rutherford County COVID-19 Rental Relief Program
Shelby County: Community Services Agency Comprehensive Emergency Assistance Program
All other Tennessee counties: Tennessee Housing Development Agency (THDA) COVID-19 Rent Relief
“It’s important that people know about our program and other rental assistance programs around the state because our court system is not doing them any favors,” McCrady says.
