Hundreds of evictions in Fayette County set to resume despite pandemic, mass confusion
Starting Monday, eviction hearings in Fayette County will resume after being halted in March due to the coronavirus.
In Fayette County District Court, 157 eviction hearings are scheduled next week. The following week, the docket shows an additional 143 eviction hearings.
That means more than 300 households could be out of their homes and apartments by the first week of September.
Many of those eviction cases scheduled for next week are old, court document show. Some were for nonpayment of rent prior to late March when the courts stopped taking eviction filings and Gov. Andy Beshear ordered law enforcement not to serve eviction notices for nonpayment of rent. Evictions for lease violations have been allowed.
The courts allowed evictions to be filed beginning Aug. 1. It typically takes 30 days for those eviction proceedings to work their way through the courts.
Beshear’s order is still in effect. A federal lawsuit challenging Beshear’s moratorium on serving eviction notices filed by several Northern Kentucky landlords was sent to mediation but has not yet been settled.
That’s left sheriff’s deputies and constables, who typically serve eviction notices, in limbo.
If a judge signs an order, under the law, it must be served, some have said. A spokesperson for Jefferson County Sheriff’s office told WDRB earlier this month deputies in Kentucky’s largest county will serve those eviction notices because the department could not “pick and choose” which orders to serve. However, the courts have started a pilot program in Jefferson County that would connect renters with assistance if they qualify early in the eviction process. It’s the only program of its kind in Kentucky to date.
Beshear said Thursday his office will announce Monday a new program using federal coronavirus relief dollars to help renters and landlords alike. Beshear said he hoped landlords could wait a few more days before moving forward with evictions.
“We don’t want to put people out on the street not during COVID,” Beshear said.
Ed Sparks, one of three Fayette County constables, said his office has started serving eviction notices for nonpayment.
“We are in a no-mans-land. If a judge signs an order, legally we have to serve it,” Sparks said. His office has served several eviction notices that were for lease violations. Lease violations can include anything from having pets when pets aren’t allowed to illegal activity such as prostitution or selling drugs.
“I had one non-payment,” Sparks said. “It was old. It was from February and the rent hadn’t been paid in December.”
Sparks said the number of eviction cases set for the next two weeks in Fayette County is fairly typical. Sparks said he has been told Fayette District Court judges are reviewing evictions on a case by case basis.
“I’ve seen some that owe as much as $10,000 and I’ve seen others that are for one month’s rent,” Sparks said of some of the eviction filings.
Chief Fayette District Court Judge T. Bruce Bell declined to comment on how evictions will be handled by district court judges.
Fayette County Sheriff Kathy Witt’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on how the sherriff’s office will handle eviction orders.
It may not matter if constables or sheriff’s deputies serve what is called a “set out” order, which forces a tenant out.
“I would say 90 percent of the time, by the time we get there, they are already gone,” Sparks said. Most people vacate when they get the initial notice, he said. “A small percentage of those that are still there are there because they have no place else to go.”
Josh Crabtree, executive director of Legal Aid of the Bluegrass, told the legislature’s Interim Joint Committee on Judiciary Thursday the state’s legal aid organizations, which represent the majority of poor tenants in eviction cases, have called each judicial district to ask how evictions are being handled across the state.
“The only consistency is the inconsistency,” Crabtree said. In one district with three district court judges, all three are handling eviction cases differently, he said.
Ben Carter of the Kentucky Equal Justice Center said many people are waiting for backlogged unemployment payments to pay rent. Millions of dollars in federal coronavirus relief money has been set aside for renters. But much of that money hasn’t made it to agencies yet. That money could avert a possible “eviction explosion. We were already in an eviction crisis.”
Carter urged the courts to hit pause on evictions until a system is worked out that’s fair to both landlords and tenants.
“Everyone needs more time,” Carter said. “It’s not uniform. It’s not safe. “
It’s not clear how many people could face eviction in Fayette County in coming months.
More than 1,500 Fayette County renters have inquired about rental assistance through the online portal www.covid19renterhelp.org., set up by consortium of more than 20 nonprofits in May to help connect renters with assistance.
Brenda Wells, executive director of the Greater Lexington Apartment Association, said she has not surveyed her membership recently. But during a meeting last month, only a few apartment managers said they had one or more tenants struggling to make rent.
“I know our membership has been working with tenants to try to set up payment plans,” Wells said. “Although we don’t have a survey or definite numbers, it does not appear to be as bad as we thought.”
Landlords say the moratorium on evictions has created financial hardships. Landlords still have to pay mortgages, utilities, employees and taxes. If something isn’t done soon, many landlords could face insolvency, officials from various apartment associations told the interim judiciary committee Thursday.
If the moratorium continues “some of our members will not be able to meet the financial obligations and risk bankruptcy and the loss of their property,” said JD Carey, executive director of Louisville Apartment Association. “This will only worsen the shortage of available affordable housing for Kentucky residents.”
Jesse Brewer of the Greater Northern Kentucky Apartment Association said some renters have money to pay rent but refuse to do so because they think they can’t get evicted.
“I have tenants that purchased new cars, purchased new TVs,” Brewer said. “There are gross abuses of the system.”
Housing advocates warned this week that many homeless shelters are not taking new clients due to the pandemic. Those people who are evicted may be forced on the streets as the number of new COVID-19 infections statewide are higher than in March when the moratorium was put in place.
Art Crosby, the executive director of Lexington Fair Housing, said forcing people out of their homes is unnecessary when there is federal money available to help tenants. The lack of communication has been troubling and frustrating. No one knows what’s going on, he said.
“On something this important and with this much time to prepare, I had hoped we would have come up with a systemic response that would have addressed the needs of tenants and landlords,” Crosby said. “ And even if the plan wasn’t prefect, we should have been able to communicate it clearly to everyone, so that all parties would know what to expect and could plan accordingly. “
The city of Lexington has set aside money to help stop evictions. Some of that money just became available this week.
The city’s Community and Resident Services, formerly known as Adult and Tenant Services, received $500,000 through a U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development fund earlier this year to help people who lost work due to coronavirus-related business shut downs pay back rent and utilities.
That money is for hospitality, child care and education, retail, nonprofit and other employees who could not work or lost hours due to pandemic-related shut downs, said Chris Ford, the commissioner of social services for Lexington. People with rent more than 30 days past due and renters facing imminent eviction or utility cut offs can apply. People can qualify for up to $2,000 for utility or back rent payments. Ford said HUD just recently signed off on the program.
Community and Resident Services also has $200,000, which it receives annually, to help low-income people with rent and utility payments, he said.
“In total we will have $700,000,” Ford said. Ford urged people to call 859-300-5300 to determine if they qualify for either program.
In addition, the city recently set aside $1.9 million for a household assistance program. That money can also be used to help pay rent and other household costs. More details about how that program will work will be released next week at a Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council meeting.
“We are all working in real time to try to get this money to people who need it,” Ford said.
