News Archive
Professor Emily Benfer, '05, Comments for 'Time' Magazine on Eviction Practices during Pandemic
04/21/2020
Renters who are unable to continue working during the COVID-19 pandemic’s stay-at-home orders are supposed to be protected from eviction by their landlords, yet many are finding that is not the case. Professor Emily Benfer, ’05, a visiting clinical professor at Columbia Law School, discussed the problem in a story published in “Time” magazine.
“This has truly exposed the inadequacy of our social safety net,” Professor Benfer said in the story.
Landlords are supposed to file evictions with the courts, and most courts are not processing them because of the pandemic, the article reports. This is leading landlords to evict non-paying tenants themselves. The federal CARES Act, passed in March, prohibits evictions for 120 days, but applies only to renters in properties receiving federally-backed mortgages. Some city and state governments have banned evictions during the pandemic, and prohibit landlords from shutting off utilities, and yet tenants are still being forced from their homes.
“Very few states have put into place all the freezes that are necessary,” Professor Benfer said later in the piece.
