DeKalb judge issues new countywide eviction moratorium
County CEO will also propose raising ceiling on rental aid
The nationwide eviction moratorium has expired. But one metro Atlanta judge has extended another lifeline to renters in her county.
DeKalb Chief Superior Court Judge Asha Jackson recently signed a new emergency order creating a ban on evictions throughout the county for another 60 days, according to a Sunday morning news release. The order was based on the “continued COVID-19 public health emergency” and the cyberattack that targeted DeKalb’s Tenant-Landlord Assistance Coalition earlier this year, dramatically slowing its distribution of federal aid.
County officials also said that, during the new local eviction moratorium, they’ll consider modifications to the aid program.
“This emergency order is a godsend,” DeKalb CEO Michael Thurmond said in the news release. “Without this local extension to the CDC moratorium, thousands of DeKalb residents faced the stark reality of having their belongings set out on the street in the midst of surging COVID-19 infection rates.”
Officials said that, as of Friday, DeKalb had distributed about 11% of the $31 million it allocated for rental and utility assistance. The county had helped 763 households but still had 1,657 pending applications from tenants and landlords.
DeKalb had the extra hurdle of recovering from a March cyberattack that wiped out many initial emails and applications for its assistance program, but its struggle to quickly get federal aid to residents tracks with many other governments across the state and the country.
An AJC analysis found that, as of July 20, only about 6% of the $710 million that Georgia and select local jurisdictions received from the federal government had been distributed to renters and landlords.
A significant complaint about DeKalb County’s assistance program is that aid was capped at 60% of the amount of back-rent owed by a tenant, up to $10,000. The current program also allows tenants to receive the equivalent of two months of future rent.
Thurmond — who acknowledged that the local moratorium would “increase the financial burden and stress on landlords, especially our mom-and-pop owners” — said he would propose modifications to those limits on aid during Tuesday’s meeting of DeKalb’s county commission.