ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. – The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday to resume evictions across the country just weeks after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention put a moratorium in place after the original ban had ended.
The decision from the high court means renters could begin receiving eviction notices as soon as next week.
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The court’s action ends protections for roughly 3.5 million people in the United States who said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to Census Bureau data from early August.
“There’s no longer a golden ticket,” said Jeffrey Hussey with the Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida.
Hussey said he’s not surprised that justices ended up blocking it.
“We know there are hundreds or thousands of evictions statewide that are currently pending that made it through the court process but stopped at that last step because of the moratorium,” Hussey explained.
According to the Orange County Clerk of Courts, 642 eviction cases were filed in July and 573 have been filed so far in August.
County officials explained that during the moratorium, cases were still filed but were not taken to final judgment by a judge.
That could change as soon as next week, Hussey believes.
“Landlords can start moving forward with evictions, some that have been pending many, many months and many are going to be filed in the next week or two,” Hussey said.
Due to the ruling, the White House called on local courts and landlords to do more to prevent people from being forced out of their homes.
Hussey explained renters should apply for rental assistance as soon as possible.
“If you have not applied for emergency rental assistance, you needed to do that last week, but work on it this weekend or whatever time is necessary. Ask whatever questions you need but you need to get that in the pipeline,” Hussey said.
To reach the Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida, click here.