CINCINNATI — The federal eviction moratorium lifts Saturday, July 31, and people are struggling to figure out how to pay their rent or mortgage.
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Hamilton County's Community Action Agency said it's getting about 500 phone calls a day concerning the moratorium. Mark Lawson, president and CEO of the agency, said people need to apply for help now, and he said landlords should be patient.
"It’s a win-win for everybody," Lawson said. "I tell everybody that tenant assistance is landlord assistance because we can pay all the way back to March 2020 arrearages that a tenant may owe including fees..."
Lawson said his agency, and others like it, can help people make their payments and stay in their homes, but it takes time.
"We’ve already spent about ten million and helped about 4,000 families and we have $47 million left to spend on behalf of tenants," he said. "Now that money is good through, some of it is good through, 2025, so we have some time to spend it, because we don’t really see this crisis being over anytime soon."
While Hamilton County has $47 million to help people facing potential eviction, every county has a community action agency with money to help people pay their rent, mortgage or other housing expenses, Lawson said.
