FAYETTEVILLE, Ark — If you are facing eviction because you can’t pay your rent due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, there is now a federal halt on evictions for the rest of 2020.
“This in no way gets renters out of paying their rent,” said Arkansas Senator Greg Leding.
The CDC announced this week that it is halting evictions for renters who can’t pay because of the impact of COVID-19.
Senator Leding says this halt on evictions does not mean people do not have to pay rent, they will still owe their landlords money.
“They just can’t be evicted for failing to pay that rent on time," he said. "It also does nothing to prevent landlords to, from continuing to assess fees on their tenants, so if you are in a place where you aren’t able to make your rent you are still going to owe that once this protection expires at the end of the year."
Thanks to HUD funding from the Cares act, the City of Fayetteville’s Community Resources Division has $200,000 to help people pay their rent. So far, more than $100,000 of those funds has been used to help 86 households.
“The estimation that I had calculated is that we’d be able to help 130 households, so I think we will be able to help more than that and in addition to that I have slated in our regular CDG action plan an additional 40,000,” said Yolanda Fields, Community Resources Division Director.
Fields says the funds became available on July 20 and while there are funds left, they cannot use that money to pay late fees.