11 minute read
Pandemic Impact
Small Landlords Forced Out of Business
Protacted moratoruums intended to protect renters are hurting small landlords who rely on the income
By Steven Kovac
Extended rent moratoriums and the slow distribution of billions in federal rent assistance are driving many small landlords to
call it quits.
“Nobody wants to become a landlord anymore,” said Diane Baird, executive director of the Lake Erie Landlord Association, which represents landlords in northern Ohio, southern Michigan, and western Pennsylvania.
“And we have very few new people entering into the business.”
“Multiple landlords have told me they are selling out,” Jon Frickensmith, president of the South Wisconsin Landlord Association, told The Epoch Times. “They ask us how to get out of the business and how to get the tenants out of their houses. These are mom-and-pop operators, the kind of landlords that are willing to take tenants with bad credit or a criminal history. This will only add to the housing crisis.”
The vast majority of landlords in the United States are individuals, with most owning one or two rental houses.
In Michigan, more than $500 million in federal pandemic emergency assistance funds remain unspent, with thousands of applications for aid mired in state and municipal bureaucracies.
“Everyone in the process agrees the application process is flawed. The problems created by the system are intensified for private owners,” Greg Stremers, an attorney in Port Huron, Michigan, told The Epoch Times.
“Many property owners are selling off their properties, creating an even deeper shortage of rental properties. When I process an eviction, the tenants are having difficulty finding a new place to live, which is driving rents higher.”
Maricopa County constable Darlene Martinez serves residents with an eviction order in Phoenix, Arizona, in late 2020.
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
Small Landlords Forced Out of Business
JOHN MOORE/GETTY IMAGES
Stimulus Not Paying for Rentals
Stremers said the system is “undeniably deficient,” pointing out that, of the $46 billion allocated by Congress in emergency rental assistance, only $3 billion has thus far been distributed to applicants nationwide by state and local agencies.
According to the U.S. Department of Treasury, states and municipalities have until Sept. 30 to disburse the funds or they may be reallocated.
The latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium is set to expire on Oct. 3.
The National Equity Atlas estimates that landlords across the United States are owed more than $21 billion in overdue rent.
Don James, president of the Florida Landlord Association in Coral Gables, believes the moratorium is detrimental to renters as well as landlords.
“We as landlords cannot enforce our rental contracts and, this being a seller’s market, [it] is forcing landlords to sell their properties. This is going to cause shrinking of rental facilities, thus hurting renters,” he said.
Mike Bodeis, president of the 450-member Port Huron Area Landlord Association and owner of 40 rental houses, told The Epoch Times: “It’s a myth that 3.6 million Americans may soon be made homeless. Two-thirds of them could be paying their rent, but are not because they choose not to. They didn’t choose to pay their rent or utility bills with all the stimulus money they received.
To illustrate, Bodeis said: “In one eviction, in which I personally participated, we took six flatscreen TVs out of the house. It’s all about priorities.”
President of the Flint, Michigan-area Genesse Landlord Association, Ed Constable, said that the rent moratorium has had little effect on some of the members, but has been “devasting” for others.
“Maybe a quarter of residential tenants have signed the eligibility affidavit for the emergency pandemic rent assistance,” Constable said.
“Some instances can be horrible. One woman was in debt to me for a year’s back rent. Rather than go through the process, I ended up writing her a check for one month’s rent. That’s what it took to finally get her out. After that experience, I have zero interest in more residential rentals.”
The terms of the emergency rent assistance application are supposed to preserve the right of a landlord to evict a tenant for committing a criminal act on the premises, damaging property, threatening the health and safety of other tenants, or violating building codes and health ordinances, and for breach of contract other than non-payment of rent.
“Everything depends on the judge,” Constable said. “We had one landlord
with a beautiful, high-end rental home. His tenants moved in, along with six dogs and a potbelly pig! The case came before a liberal judge. It was delayed forever. Ultimately, the landlord could not get a writ to evict.” In Michigan, emergency rent assistance checks for up to 12 months of back rent, and even three months of future rent, are made out directly to the landlord for the benefit of qualifying tenants, but the tenants must apply for the aid. While that may sound like a win-win proposition, Stremers said that only a small percentage of tenants apply. “In fact,” Stremers said, “even the tenants typically don’t apply, and if the owner "We as wants them to, we have landlords cannot to encourage them. The vast majority of the tenants rarely show up enforce for the eviction pretrial, our rental contracts and, this and rarely submit the proper CDC paperwork to start the moratorium process.” being a Included in the paperseller’s market, [it] is forcing work is a requirement for the tenant to provide a government-issued identification card. landlords Stremers said the reato sell their properties." son for the card is that “under a prior federal stimulus for renters to
Don James purchase homes, there president, Florida was fraud by the tenLandlord Association in ants—the money went Coral Gables to tenants, who did not make the payments.” Baird said that in the Lake Erie region, “tenants are not signing up for help.” “They don’t seem to care about paying their bills. They have no reason to care. There are no consequences. The government is letting them get away with it,” she said. One Wisconsin landlord stated in an email: “I don’t know why the government thinks landlords can afford to pay bills when not collecting rent, or why we should be responsible for the tenant’s inability to pay. I think they are taking advantage of the moratorium to not pay on time.” Jannis Falkenstern contributed to this report.
A Christian Adara
girl attends the Sunday service at Ecwa Church, Kajuru, Kaduna State, Nigeria, on April 14, 2019.
Risking All for Justice
Lawyers in Nigeria defend Christians persecuted by authorities
By Masara Kim
Jos, nigeria— For embattled Christians in Nigeria’s Plateau state, the best hope for many is a civil rights attorney with a knack for cheating death.
Barrister Gyang Zi, 43, is no stranger to controversy in court or to danger in the northern Nigerian city of Jos.
The attorney, who earns less than $5,000 annually, is among 254 lawyers in Plateau state using personal finances to fight on behalf of victims of violations, said Panmak Lere, the leader of the Christian Lawyers Fellowship of Nigeria (CLASFON) in Plateau state. “The cases range from religious freedom cases for converts undergoing persecution; molestations and government recklessness; appeals against judgments or trials that are unjust or perGyang Zi in his verse, intervening for widows, office in Jos, orphans, indigents, inmates
Nigeria. without legal representation, IDPs, as well as victims of injustice and religious violence,” Lere said. Zi has won lawsuits for more than 500 victims of violations, mostly against the Muslim-dominated Nigerian military, according to his partner, Solomon Dalyop.
“The latest was a suit between the Army and 28 villagers arrested over the disappearance of an Army general in September 2018,” Dalyop said.
“There was an attack in [Sept. 11] 2018 in Lopandet village, a Christian community on the outskirts of Jos, and 13 people were killed on the spot, while three people died in the hospital. The following day, one [Major] General [Idris] Alkali was reported missing, and a group of people from nowhere said it was the people of that community that killed the general.
“The army headquarters was moved completely to that village. People were arrested randomly from the street, from their houses and business locations. Even journalists were arrested. There
were more than 60 [detainees]. Many had to flee from their homes, but Zi challenged the army authorities. He brought some of us in, and we kept writing to the general officer commanding the Third Division of the Nigerian army [in Jos] where they were detained.
“About 40 were later released, while 28 were arraigned before the State High Court, and we stood for them. The case is still ongoing, but by the grace of God, before he [Zi] handed the defense to the Christian Lawyers Federation of Nigeria (CLASFON), we filed several bail applications, and as of February this year, all of them were released.”
Zi recently hinted to friends of plans to sue local authorities over the killing of more than 70 people in northern Plateau under the watch of the military. The attacks from July 31 to Aug. 2 near Third Division headquarters of the Nigerian army were jointly carried out by soldiers and Fulani terrorists, which would be a risky case to try, Zi said, but “I don’t have any option.”
“Whether I like it or not, one day I will give way, one day I will die. The only thing that will speak for us when we leave this earth is our deeds,” he said.
“By the grace of God, I am over 40. I do not have any reason to back down from doing right simply because I am afraid of what will happen.”
The attorney had a close encounter with death during his own kidnapping last month.
The last thing on his mind on July 15, he says, as he neared his driveway in an urban neighborhood, was being kidnapped by killer bandits. But in an instant, life came at him fast.
It was 7 p.m., and he was driving home, just a stone’s throw from the state’s government house.
“I’d heard of many kidnap cases and prosecuted some, but never knew what it felt like to be in the hands of fierce-looking, gun-wielding terrorists in the middle of nowhere,” Zi told The Epoch Times. “They were calling me by name.
“I got to the junction which is just by the fence of the government house. I saw two people with guns approaching me, so immediately I put the car in reverse gear. I was trying to check the rear to see if there was clearance to accelerate, and I saw two more people. So the car was in
Gyang Zi civil rights attorney
the middle. At that point, I had no option but to stop, and they ordered me to come down from the car.
“They knew much about me, including my family and cars. In fact, they had my complete profile. They said, ‘Barrister, we’ve been sent to eliminate you, so you just have to cooperate with us.’
“They dragged me into a nearby corn farm and started whistling. We walked a little distance and a Golf 3 wagon came, and they ordered me in and blindfolded me. We drove for a long time and after the drive, I just found myself in the middle of the bush.
“They took me to some mountains and into a cave, where they planned to slaughter me and dispose of my body.”
Zi summoned all of his lawyerly skills to plead the case of his life.
“I pleaded that I had helped distressed people from their tribe and religion, which they confirmed by calling an old Fulani acquaintance in my phone contacts,” he said. “He was even the one that argued on my behalf. They talked on the phone in their dialect, and after about 24 hours, they told me they had been paid N15 million ($72,810.78) to kill me and that I had a chance to buy back my life by refunding that money. We kept pleading until they agreed to slash the price to N8million ($19,436.86).”
Zi credits his friendship with the Fulani man for saving his life.
The trauma of being held captive by the terrorists nearly put the 43-year-old in a hospital bed following his release, but while in their custody, all that mattered to him was the human rights cases he had yet to complete, he said.
“For every second I was with them, it was like a year. I was just wondering what will happen. Even when they assured me that they wouldn’t harm me after talking to my friend, I was still wondering if they were just trying to calm me down and surprisingly execute me. It was a situation where you are looking at your life going right before you, and you cannot do anything. I was at their mercy.
“But while I was with them, all that crossed my mind was what would happen to the cases and the oppressed people of God,” he said. “I was confident that God will still bring up people to carry on, but still I was a bit worried that some things would suffer setbacks.” ■
Nigerian Police Officers and Adara leaders visit and patrol an area of destroyed and burned houses after a recent Fulani attack in the Adara farmers' village of Angwan Aku, Kaduna State, Nigeria, on April 14, 2019.
