With the forthcoming end of the moratorium that provided a halt on residential evictions about to come to an end, the Mississippi Center for Justice is gearing up to offer guidance and assist Mississippians who may be impacted by the cancellation of the program.
The freeze order was put in place by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The CDC's order, which was issued September 4 of this year, temporarily halts residential evictions of covered persons for non-payment of rent and what that means is that landlords, owners of residential property and other persons with a legal right to pursue an eviction or a possessory action cannot evict any person covered under that order for non-payment of rent.
Armed with the knowledge that those who were covered under that forbearance agreement, which will end December 31, may still not be in a position where they can make their payments, the MCJ’s Consumer Protection Director Charles Lee said, "We want to offer as much assistance as possible to individuals, especially if they have mortgages."
Lee said, "We expect to see an increase in eviction filings by landlords or the pursuit of the rent by landlords against people who have not been paying rent due to the exceptions provided by the moratorium.”
Lee added, “And we want to see if the government is going to offer any further assistance to individuals or if we'll find that people are having to move out of these apartments or homes and try to find some other home or shelter while we're still in the middle of this crisis."
In addition to assisting renters, since 2008, the Mississippi Center for Justice has also been a significant provider of direct legal services to Mississippians needing assistance with foreclosure matters and ensuring that homeowners know their rights.
"Mississippians often find themselves in the process of foreclosure unfortunately due to, currently, loss of jobs and income and we've tried to make that process the best possible for the people we serve through litigation or assisting them with applying for mortgage assistance," Lee said.
He said what the MCJ does is engage the mortgage companies to try to work out the best options for the homeowners and they can also assist the renters in the same way.
In addition, if the home has already been foreclosed on when the owner contacts the MCJ, then they will assist with the move out process. Lee presumes that there will be lots of people who will not be able to make the payment on their mortgages due to the events of this year, so he encourages people to contact their housing division for assistance.
Lee also shared his views on the impact that foreclosures have had in certain communities of people. "When you look at the foreclosure crisis that happened in 2008 there were a large number of African Americans who lost their homes as a result of that and the damage to the African American community and the collective wealth was greater than any other population in the United States,” he said.
He implied that the impact is still being felt. “The results of losing all of that wealth during that time frame still haven't been remedied up to the present time and we find ourselves in a similar situation where we have large numbers of African Americans who are unemployed and there's further damage to the economic situation of this group and it further widens the racial wealth gap in the United States, which is something we see as a big deal."
Lee explained that the way it relates back to the mortgages is that the home is usually the vehicle by which people transfer large wealth from one generation to the next generation. “And when we lose that asset we lose the ability to transfer that wealth and that's what's happening now with the loss of homes with foreclosures and that's why we think it's so important to try to save as many homes as possible and keep people in the homes, so they will have that asset which is really a part of the American dream for so many people,” he said.
Impacted persons can contact their local Mississippi Center for Justice office, which will refer them to the office in Jackson, go to the MCJ website and click under consumer information or dial the special hotline number 228-702-9983.
This foreclosure assistance program is part of a consortium organized by the Mississippi Attorney General’s Office and funded by a portion of the foreclosure settlement between the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and is being assisted as the first stage of the Mississippi Bar Foundation Bank of America Foreclosure Prevention Grant Program with additional funding from the Mississippi Bar Foundation Bank of America Foreclosure Prevention Grant Program.
