Eviction notices possible for Pennsylvanians right on heels of holidays
Charlotte Keith
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Hundreds of thousands of families across Pennsylvania could lose their homes in January after emergency unemployment benefits and federal eviction protections expire and as the state grapples with record numbers of new coronavirus cases.
A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention order has kept many eviction cases on hold for tenants across the state who have not been able to afford rent during the pandemic. It is for people like Cheryl Kull, who lives in an apartment in Bucks County with her mother. She owes her landlord more than $8,000, a small chunk of as much as $958 million in back rent owed by as many as 240,000 tenants across the state by January, according to one estimate.
Suburban neighborhood
HARRISBURG Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners missed out on roughly $108 million of $175 million in federal coronavirus relief because state programs distributing the funding made it too hard to access, Spotlight PA has found. The remaining money will be redistributed to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Over the summer, Pennsylvania created two new housing programs to spend money it received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: $150 million for rent relief and $25 million for mortgage help. Thousands of struggling families applied up until an extended Nov. 4 deadline, as coronavirus shutdowns led to layoffs, lost wages, and missed rent and mortgage payments. Local governments and nonprofits administering the funds were inundated with phone calls and emails from people pleading for help with the demanding application processes.
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Update 1/22/2021: Following an executive order by President Joe Biden, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Jan. 20 extended its ban on evictions until the end of March. HARRISBURG Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners missed out on roughly $108 million of $175 million in federal coronavirus relief because state programs distributing the funding made it too hard to access, Spotlight PA has found. The remaining money will be redistributed to the state’s Department of Corrections. Over the summer, Pennsylvania created two new housing programs to spend money it received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: $150 million for rent relief and $25 million for mortgage help. Thousands of struggling families applied up until an extended Nov. 4 deadline, as coronavirus shutdowns led to layoffs, lost wages, and missed rent and mortgage payments. Local governments and nonprofits administering the funds were inundated with phone calls and emai
Inmate Died of Coronavirus, But Pa. Corrections Never Told Family
By Joseph Darius Jaafari of Spotlight PA |
December 18, 2020
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HARRISBURG Yvonne Newkirk would talk to her 60-year-old brother Edward Ball on the phone almost every day. He was serving time at a state prison in Luzerne County, where he would also write to her every week. Then, in mid-November, all contact ended.
After three weeks of silence, Newkirk was desperate, and asked prison officials where he was housed, SCI-Dallas, for help. But staff there refused to give her answers, citing a federal act meant to protect a person’s private medical information.
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Pennsylvania tenants and homeowners missed out on roughly $108 million of $175 million in federal coronavirus relief because state programs distributing the funding made it too hard to access, Spotlight PA has found. The remaining money will be redistributed to the state’s Department of Corrections.
Over the summer, Pennsylvania created two new housing programs to spend money it received under the federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act: $150 million for rent relief and $25 million for mortgage help. Thousands of struggling families applied up until an extended Nov. 4 deadline, as coronavirus shutdowns led to layoffs, lost wages, and missed rent and mortgage payments. Local governments and nonprofits administering the funds were inundated with phone calls and emails from people pleading for help with the demanding application processes.