Hundreds of evictions pending in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties despite moratorium

Feb. 28—Already struggling to pay bills, Yomaiera White fell $2,000 behind on rent for her Scranton apartment after a pandemic-related closure of day care centers left her jobless from March to August.

A nearly yearlong ban on evictions imposed by state and federal authorities helped protect White, now back at work, and others from losing housing.

She was one of the fortunate.

More than 800 renters in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties lost their housing or face imminent threat of eviction within the next month.

The eviction moratoriums did help significantly reduce the number of eviction cases filed last year compared to 2019, in Dunmore and Scranton in Lackawanna County, and in Kingston, Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County.

But magisterial district judges and housing officials say many people lost their chance to stave off eviction because they did not follow the procedure required to enact the safety net. In other cases, the tenants violated lease conditions, freeing landlords to take action against them.

Rulings favor landlords

A Sunday Times review of court cases in Lackawanna County found the four magistrates who cover Dunmore and Scranton held hearings in 513 cases from Sept. 1 to Jan. 31, with rulings issued in 424 of them. Sept. 1 is the day after the expiration of Gov. Tom Wolf's initial moratorium, which began in March.

In 418 of those cases, magistrates ruled for the landlords, awarding just over $1 million in back rent. The amounts ranged from as little as $11, to as much as $15,400, with the most common amount being $1,200. The other 89 cases either settled, were dismissed or withdrawn, or are pending.

The situation is similar in Luzerne County. Of the 377 landlord-tenant cases magistrates handled in Kingston, Nanticoke and Wilkes-Barre, the judges ruled in favor of landlords 215 times for a total of $443,766 in overdue rent. Of the remaining cases, 102 are still active and the rest were either decided in favor of the tenant, settled, dismissed or withdrawn.

Rent relief on horizon

A rent relief program in Lackawanna County, which expects to begin accepting online applications within the next few weeks, promises to provide much-needed assistance. The county received $6.2 million to help tenants, who lost their jobs or incomes because of the coronavirus pandemic, pay back rent and utilities.

For White, the program will be a tremendous help if she qualifies. She and her three children live in the Bangor Heights subsidized housing complex. She's been able to make partial rent payments and feels fortunate the complex has not sought to evict her.

White said she first ran into trouble in March, when day care centers closed. She has no relatives or friends to watch her three children, ages 3, 5 and 9, so she said she had no choice but to stop working.

She initially managed because she qualified for the additional $600 a week in pandemic unemployment benefits. That expired in July, leaving them to live on just $188 a week in unemployment benefits.

"I tried to pay little by little," she said. "I have a car payment, car insurance. On top of that, I have three kids. I don't get welfare or child support. Everything comes out of my pocket."

If she doesn't qualify for the rent relief program, she likely will have to use a big chunk of her tax refund for back rent — money earmarked for her other bills.

Concerns rise over evictions

Housing officials worry about the number of cases with pending eviction orders for back rent, which can be enforced as soon as the latest eviction moratorium ends next month.

Besides Wolf's moratorium, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention enacted a ban Sept. 4, which was extended to Dec. 31, then Jan. 31. President Joe Biden extended it until March 31.

The moratoriums helped reduce the number of eviction cases filed with eight magistrate judges in Lackawanna and Luzerne counties. The Lackawanna County judges are: Joanne Corbett, South Scranton; Alyce Hailstone Farrell, Central City and East Scranton; Terrence Gallagher, West Scranton; and Paul Ware, Dunmore and North Scranton/Green Ridge. In Luzerne County, they are: James J. Haggerty, Kingston; Rick Cronauer and Thomas F. Malloy Sr., both Wilkes-Barre; and Donald L. Whittaker, Nanticoke.

In the two counties, 890 cases were filed from Sept. 1 to Jan. 31, down from 1,029 cases filed in the same time frame from 2019 to 2020.

Hundreds of people still face the threat of imminent eviction once the moratorium ends because the judges continued to hear cases and enter judgments against tenants during the moratorium for two main reasons:

The CDC moratorium halts evictions for nonpayment of rent, but does not protect tenants whose leases expired or if they violated their lease for other reasons, such as damaging the property or having unauthorized people live there.

The moratorium had several other conditions attached, including requiring the tenant sign an affidavit attesting they could not pay rent because of financial hardship caused by the pandemic and that they would make a good faith effort to pay something. Even then, landlords could still file to recoup past due rent and/or money to cover damages to their property.

"The CDC order stops evictions, it does not necessarily stop a hearing," said Lori Molloy, executive director of the nonprofit North Penn Legal Services. "You still have people on the verge of eviction."

Confusion abounds

The issue, some officials say, is that many tenants did not know about or misunderstood what was required of them under the CDC moratorium. They did not provide their landlord the affidavit or, in many cases, did not show up for the hearing.

"I have people calling my office saying, 'You can't evict me because of COVID,'" Ware said. "They think there is a blanket moratorium. That is not the case. ... It's only for people who take an affirmative step and inform the landlord they were adversely affected by COVID. If you did not sign the affidavit the case proceeded as normal."

Lackawanna County judges varied on whether they would advise tenants about the CDC moratorium if they did not know.

Corbett said she did not because she believes that would equate to giving legal advice.

"We are a neutral party," Corbett said. "We do have information in the front area of the court tenants can access for free legal aid."

Ware said he does advise tenants of the affidavit because he views the situation as providing guidance on a procedural matter, not as legal advice. Farrell also said she notifies tenants.

Luzerne County President Judge Michael T. Vough said magistrates there should inform tenants about the moratorium and provide the declaration for them to sign.

"That's part of our criteria. When a landlord-tenant (case) is filed, if the tenant appears you give him the form and say, 'Here's what you have to do,'" he said. "At that point, it's up to the magistrate to make a decision regarding going forward with the case."

Whittaker said that he stopped accepting new landlord-tenant filings because of the moratorium.

"It's fruitless, because I can't even serve the landlord-tenant with the notice to quit," Whittaker said. "It's not going to get them out any quicker, and they're not going to receive any money. ... Quite frankly, the landlords are taking a beating."

Still time

Still, the vast majority of cases ended with landlords being granted possession of the properties.

In Lackawanna County, Ware, Corbett, Gallagher and Farrell granted landlords possession in 322 of the 424 cases in which they issued rulings and ordered possession be granted if the judgment was not paid in 90 days in another 70 cases.

In Luzerne County, Cronauer, Haggerty, Malloy and Whittaker granted landlords possession in 124 of the 377 cases and ordered possession be granted if the judgment was not satisfied in another 90 cases.

Ware stressed that does not mean all those people lost their housing. Those being evicted for nonpayment could still stay the process at any time if they submitted the CDC affidavit, even after a judgment, he said.

Ware said he had multiple cases in which constables went to evict people, only to leave because the tenants showed they had presented the affidavit.

Molloy said the cases illustrate the importance for tenants to seek legal advice before a hearing. North Penn Legal Services provides attorneys free of charge to people who meet income guidelines.

The biggest mistake tenants make is not showing for the hearing, which results in a default judgment against them, Molloy said. Tenants often see the situation as hopeless and just give up, she said.

"People realize they have a terrible problem," she said. "They know they are behind in rent. ... They see it as, 'I can't afford my rent. What can I do?' They get scared and don't know what to do."

Contact the writer: tbesecker@timesshamrock.com; 570-348-9137; @tmbeseckerTT on Twitter.