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Housing:The Federal Eviction Moratorium Is Over. Now What?
CityLab
Housing

Why Can’t the Government Stop Evictions?

A patchwork of protections has so far prevented the “tsunami” of evictions that housing advocates fear. But in many U.S. cities, the number of filings is growing. 

Alice Nondorf on moving day in late January. Despite being eligible for rental assistance — and the protection of the CDC’s eviction moratorium — she and her partner received eviction notices in November.  

Alice Nondorf on moving day in late January. Despite being eligible for rental assistance — and the protection of the CDC’s eviction moratorium — she and her partner received eviction notices in November.  

Photographer: Luke Townsend

Alice Nondorf spent the holidays waiting to be evicted from her home in Manhattan, Kansas.

Unable to work and relying on disability benefits, Nondorf says she had struggled to pay rent for her $700-per-month apartment since September. At the same time, she escalated complaints to the city about roaches, bats in the walls and broken appliances that she says the building’s new management failed to address. After her lease rolled over at the end of October, Nondorf and her fiancé, Gary LaBarge — who was living in an adjacent unit on a month-to-month lease, and who has stage 4 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease — received notices in November to vacate.