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Tenants behind on rent in pandemic face harassment, eviction

Virus Outbreak-Eviction Threat
Posted at 7:26 AM, Jun 15, 2020
and last updated 2020-06-15 07:26:18-04

BALTIMORE - The coronavirus pandemic has shut housing courts and prompted most states and federal authorities to initiate policies protecting renters from eviction.

But not everyone is covered and a number of landlords -- some desperate to pay their mortgages themselves -- are turning to threats and harassment to force tenants out.

The evictions threaten to exacerbate a problem that has plagued people of color long before the pandemic, when landlords across the U.S. were filing about 300,000 eviction requests every month.

Some tenants are now banding together to push for legislation at the state and federal level to provide rent and mortgage relief.