Flood of evictions expected to hit Oklahoma

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Storm brewing

Oklahoma City could see thousands lose their homes in coming months due to record unemployment and economic turmoil caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Attorneys and academics told The Oklahoman a moratorium on eviction hearings, once ended, will be followed by a wave of evictions creating a homeless population not seen since the Great Depression.

Court records reviewed by The Oklahoman show the number of filings over the past two weeks has slowed -- but that trend won't continue after the pandemic, warns Richard Klinge, director of the Pro Bono Eviction Assistance Program at Oklahoma City University.

The state's unemployment rate hit record levels within weeks of the outbreak, with first-time claims on unemployment insurance up by nearly 800%. Nearly 100,000 Oklahomans, more than the entire population of Edmond, filed initial claims in the past two weeks.

"I don't see how these people are going to be able to pay their bills," Kinge said. "It's a tsunami coming on the horizon as people can't pay their rent."

A national survey by Eviction Lab at Princeton University ranked Tulsa and Oklahoma City as cities with the 11th and 20th highest eviction rates based on 2016 data. The Pro Bono Eviction Assistance Program under Klinge has helped 650 families -- more than 1,300 men, women and children -- facing eviction and other landlord issues since the organization was started in 2018. That is only a fraction of total evictions the state could see this year alone.

"Before COVID-19 struck, based on filings to date in Oklahoma County, 14,000 cases would be set for Oklahoma County in 2020," Klinge said. "That means more than 30,000 men, women and children will be facing eviction from their homes.

"Now, given the COVID-19 situation and the resulting massive unemployment, the numbers throughout Oklahoma will grow exponentially," Klinge said.

Filings continue

Normal eviction processes have been disrupted, slowed or stopped altogether as a result of the coronavirus.

The CARES Act passed by Congress put a 120-day moratorium on evictions for property owners with federal funding used for mortgages, financing or rent assistance.

On March 16, the Oklahoma State Supreme Court "strongly urged" courts to stop hearing non-emergency cases, including evictions, and doubled down on that message March 27.

About the same time, Oklahoma County Sheriff P.D. Taylor put a stop to enforcing eviction orders.

But landlords continue filing evictions, creating a backlog of cases to be attended to later.

Just three days after the March 27 closing of courts, local filings resumed with Home SFR Borrower seeking to evict tenants in 12 rental homes scattered across the metro area and Yes Companies evicting four from a trailer home park in Choctaw.

Auburn Lane Apartments, in west Oklahoma City, filed three evictions. The owners of Aspen Way apartments, 2700 Indian Creek Blvd., filed 41 eviction notices, representing 11% of its 358 units, on April 1.

Many of these are likely related to prepandemic rent issues, but those numbers will continue to grow.

"Those filings will be just sitting there in the courts until they reopen," Open Justice Oklahoma Director Ryan Gentzler said. Open Justice Oklahoma has been studied the rate of eviction filings throughout Oklahoma since the coronavirus outbreak.

Under current orders, the courts could start hearing eviction filings as early as May 6. Regardless of when the courts pick the cases back up, it will create a logistical challenge.

"We could be potentially seeing thousands of evictions happening and being executed all at the same time," Gentzler said. "Either all of those thousands will show up at court and it will be a public safety disaster having everyone in court filing evictions or it will be equally disastrous if they don't show."

Brigid Kenedy, an attorney who represents landlords including Aspen Place and Yes Companies, isn't convinced a flood of eviction filings by landlords will hit courts when they reopen. She said landlords must balance the situation at hand with how to stay in business.

"They're doing everything they can to work with tenants," Kennedy said. "They don't want to lose them. "It doesn't serve anyone's interest."

Tenants at risk

Low-income tenants are often without representation in eviction proceedings unless they are fortunate enough to obtain representation from Legal Aid, a nonprofit civil service organization that provides help through attorneys' offices in 20 locations across the state.

Despite moratoriums currently making evictions almost impossible, especially in the metro area, Michael Figgins, director of Legal Aid, is dealing with cases where landlords are resorting to other tactics to get rid of tenants behind on rent.

"Some are doing lockouts and shutting off utilities," Figgins said. "There's a lot of nasty stuff going on. It's not as easy to lock people out when they're staying home with the pandemic. But God forbid you leave, you may come back and find out the door is locked. They can also switch the utilities from the tenant to the complex and then shut them off."

Such actions, Figgins said, are not criminal acts though they can be found to be liable to civil actions. But those tenants, he added, aren't in a position to afford litigation.

Legal Aid is switching tactics with the building rent crisis. Instead of a focus on defending low-income Oklahomans, it is helping those Oklahomans communicate with landlords about paying rent and possible resolutions. Sometimes just a lawyer's letter can do "magic," Figgins said.

City protections

As both a city councilwoman and education coordinator at the Mental Health Association of Oklahoma, JoBeth Hamon has long advocated for the challenges facing lower income residents.

As the pandemic hit, Hamon said some of her first thoughts were of the homeless and those facing possible eviction.

She cited the case of one formerly homeless Oklahoma City man who was unable to withhold rent when forced to make his own repairs after the landlord refused to help.

Hamon recently searched Oklahoma County court filings for evictions and discovered some of the same cases reported by The Oklahoman. Apsen Place, which does not appear to have any federal funding to tie it to the 120-day moratorium, caught her attention.

"Those filings were obviously people having difficulty paying prior to all of this," Hamon said. "They got a month behind and some change and they are being filed on."

Hamon said she approached the city attorney to see the council could either restrict evictions or provide tenants with help.

"Obviously our eviction issues were pretty bad before this," Hamon said. "We don't have strong tenants' rights laws. So landlords are pretty powerful in evicting or intimidating people to leave."

Hamon said she was informed eviction laws are overseen by the state, not the city.

But she still wants to explore a tenant right to counsel law similar to one planned as part of Tulsa's housing program. Hamon also wants to see lawmakers reconsider a law proposed in a previous legislative session to update landlord-tenant rules to give tenants the right to withhold rent over maintenance issues.

That effort, she said, died in committee but she thinks it is something Oklahoma City and Tulsa should team up on to make a reality.

"We need to coordinate advocacy," Hamon said.

Signs of hope

Not every landlord is rushing to evict. Some are waiving late fees, accepting weekly rent and making other payment arrangements with tenants struggling to survive with pay cuts and loss of income. Still others are exchanging maintenance work or landscaping performed by tenants for rent breaks.

Some tenants are making arrangements with landlords while using a mix of unemployment assistance and the recently delivered $1,200 aid check.

For Lucas Dunn, money was tight until he started getting unemployment assistance. His partner, Jenny Broad, was able to stay employed because the store she works at continued sales online.

It was Dunn's landlord who approached him to check on his well-being and assured him they could work out an arrangement if money got too tight to pay rent on time.

"He's always been a pretty good landlord, the best I've ever had," said Dunn, who lives in a fourplex near Paseo. "I'm financially better now that I'm not able to get out and spend money, and after getting the assistance, I'm trying to pay down some debt."

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