Evictions are wrong but are made even more dangerous because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The ACLC has been working with the Evictions Lab to establish a baseline and better understand this looming crisis. Between 2012 and 2016 there was an average of 559 evictions filed during the months of March, April, May, and June in Alachua County. During this same period in 2020 there were 156 evictions filed. This 402 case difference is entirely the result of Governor DeSantis’ stay on evictions for failure to pay rent.
Two things will happen soon:
- Evictions for other reasons, such as leases expiring, will increase in the next few months.
- The stay on evictions will eventually end and the floodgates will open.
When this happens we will see hundreds, if not thousands of eviction cases being filed at once. The ACLC has put together an evictions’ task force to help with this. We have a team that is sending information packets to all who have evictions filed against them. We also have a team who will follow up with canvassing a week after our packets are sent to them.
Please email us at ACTenantsAssociation@@laborcoalition.org if you wish to join one or both of these teams. We need as much help as possible!
