Gladys Suarez has lived in her Reston apartment for 20 years with her daughter and 4-year-old grandson. When she fell behind on rent after COVID-19 affected her housecleaning job, a federal eviction moratorium gave her some peace of mind.
Now that the moratorium has ended, Virginia eviction courts are busy processing the pandemic backlog of cases, and Suarez has found herself packing all her family’s belongings into boxes, with her scheduled eviction just days away.
“I need to leave this house, it doesn’t matter if I have a place or not,” Suarez said. “I have pain because I don’t know what is going to happen with us.”
There’s good news and bad news for people in similar situations. The good news is that federal assistance in the form of tens of thousands of dollars is available, but the deadline to apply is rapidly approaching. And the bad news is that due toa change in the law, your landlord is no longer required to help you apply.
They should have been paying their rent / housing payments with all the money the government was handing out without accountability.
NO PITY from me. You reap what you sow.