As eviction ban ends, Macon tenants behind on rent ‘need to get ready to move,’ judge says

After the U.S. Supreme Court ended the last of the federal eviction moratoriums Thursday, landlords with property in Macon-Bibb County began calling the Bibb County Civil and Magistrate Court to file evictions.

Chief Judge of the Bibb County Civil and Magistrate Pamela White-Colbert said the court cannot honor any CDC eviction protection declarations from tenants because of the Supreme Court’s Thursday ruling.

“Landlords are calling now,” White-Colbert said. “My job is to follow the law and uphold the law.”

White-Colbert said tenants will start getting notices to appear in court Monday or Tuesday of next week. Tenants whose eviction process was paused by the new moratorium will be issued a new eviction date, she said.

“Those who have filed a CDC moratorium declaration, they need to get ready to move,” she said.

The magistrate court in Bibb County has around 400 cases that have no judgment because of the moratorium, so those tenants and landlords will have a new court date scheduled, she said.

Because the court had already planned the court calendar for September, it cannot set aside a few weeks in September to handle the additional cases. Eviction court is typically held on Mondays, but starting Sept. 10, eviction court will also be held on Fridays because Fridays are typically days when the court doesn’t schedule cases.

If the court hasn’t caught up with the additional cases by Oct. 1, White-Colbert said they will reevaluate the calendar for October to accommodate the remaining cases.

Why did this happen now?

The initial eviction moratorium expired on July 31, but a new moratorium was issued due to political pressure on the Biden administration, the increasing spread of the delta variant and the slow distribution of federal rental assistance.

A case was brought before the Supreme Court by a group of landlords and real estate agents that claimed that landlords have lost as much as $19 billion per month during the pandemic.

The Supreme Court ruled in the landlords’ favor 6-3 saying the CDC did not have the authority to issue a federal eviction moratorium, and another federally imposed eviction moratorium must be authorized by Congress.

In June, another Supreme Court case ruled in favor of the eviction moratorium 5-4, but that decision was clearly temporary. Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh wrote that he believed the moratorium was unlawful, but he voted to temporarily allow the moratorium to provide time for an orderly transition, according to the New York Times.

Any extension of the moratorium past the July 31 deadline would need direct Congressional authorization, Kavanaugh wrote of the June decision.

The moratorium ended July 31, but the administration issued on Aug. 3 a new moratorium that was supposed to extend to Oct. 3.

At the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, Congress did approve an eviction moratorium, but it expired July 2020, so the CDC issued a series of its own moratoriums under the Public Health Service Act of 1944. Congress acted again in December 2020 to extend the CDC moratorium through the end of January, but no further action was made from Congress.

In the new ruling from the Supreme Court, Congress would need to authorize another federal eviction moratorium.

How can people seek help?

People who are looking for assistance can call 2-1-1, the United Way of Central Georgia’s hotline that connects people to local nonprofits and organizations that can help. People can also text their ZIP code and “need” to 898-211.

Here is a list of organizations that can help people facing eviction.

Georgia Legal Services Program

• Phone: 1-833-457-7529

• Website: www.glsp.org

Family Advancement Ministries

• Phone: 478-745-7165

• Website: www.familyadvancementministries.org

Macon-Bibb Economic Opportunity Council

• Phone: 478-738-3240

• Website: www.maconbibbeoc.com

This story was originally published August 27, 2021 at 2:25 PM.