There's a federal moratorium on evictions. So why have more than 200 families in Milwaukee been evicted since then?

Steven and Renessa Wright knew they were several months behind on their rent but felt they were safe from eviction until at least January, thanks to a federal government moratorium that runs until the end of the year.

What they didn't know was that while the ban prevents some tenants from being tossed onto the street for not paying rent, it doesn't prevent landlords from serving eviction papers for other violations of a lease agreement.

"We felt kind of secure because we thought we would have time to find something," Steven Wright said, explaining the couple already was planning to move. "Then they said they were putting us out because they say our dog was barking and because I was smoking on the patio. Nobody said I couldn't smoke on the patio — not when we're paying $1,900 a month."

The eviction suit filed against the Wrights by their then-landlord, Wauwatosa Reserve Partners I LLC, argues the barking dog and Wright's smoking violated the rules at the apartment complex.

Wright's wife said she thinks the landlord was looking for loopholes in the moratorium to kick people out. "They could not put people out for owing money, so they were looking for something else," Renessa Wright said.

Turns out the latest federal moratorium on evictions is really more of a slowdown than a shutdown.

At least 244 families have been evicted from their homes in Milwaukee County since Sept. 4, when the Trump Administration's "temporary halt in residential evictions" took effect, according to Sgt. William Brown, who oversees the sheriff's eviction unit. 

The order, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it issued to "to prevent the further spread of COVID-19" is set to expire Dec 31. An additional 25 people avoided being put out on the street because they had signed a CDC declaration swearing they were covered by the moratorium, Brown said.

"It's not a complete moratorium if hundreds of people are still being evicted," said Peter Koneazny, litigation director at the Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee.  "Especially during these times" when several thousand people are testing positive for the coronavirus each in day in Wisconsin. 

The rate of evictions is well below the level during the same time period last year when 735 eviction orders were executed from Sept. 4 to Nov. 19, Brown said. 

More evictions likely would have been filed if not for the more than $50 million in rent assistance made available by the State of Wisconsin, Milwaukee County and the City of Milwaukee. Most of those funds — which came from the federal CARES Act — have been expended, making tenant advocates nervous about a flood of evictions hitting the courts next year.

"January is around the corner and this is not a rent freeze," said Deb Heffner, housing strategy director at Community Advocates, a nonprofit that provides a variety of services to low income residents, including help on housing issues. "Some tenants are going to find themselves in a deep hole if they have not been paying rent." 

The moratorium bans landlords from evicting tenants for non-payment of rent, provided the tenant meets the CDC criteria. Tenants, however, are still required to pay their rent.

There were 1,441 evictions suits filed in Milwaukee County from Sept 4 through Nov. 20, a 51% decrease from the same period last year, when 2,939 eviction suits were filed. An additional 113 eviction actions were filed from Sept. 1 to Sept. 3 — just before the CDC moratorium took affect.

"I can’t believe that here we are, in the middle of this pandemic ... having conversations around evictions," said Frank Cumberbatch, a Bader Philanthropies vice president. "We have to start to see our poor and low-income people much differently and not treat them like animals."

Tenants often cite the moratorium when deputies arrive to serve an eviction order, said Brown, of the sheriff's eviction unit.

When the deputies tell them they have to leave anyway, Brown said, they often hear the tenants' final plea.

"Everyone says, 'We have COVID,'" said Brown, who has been doing evictions since 2015. When deputies tell the tenants they have to vacate immediately, they are often showered with obscenities.

"We're cursed out from sun up to sun down," Brown said. "This is the most dangerous assignment in law enforcement."

The problem is that many tenants simply don't understand the moratorium or the eviction process, Brown said.

Unlike the two-month blanket ban ordered by Gov. Tony Evers in March, the CDC moratorium is more complicated and covers fewer people.

"It took us a few days to figure it out," said Heffner, of Community Advocates.

Raphael Ramos, head of the Eviction Defense Project, said that when the CDC moratorium began "we were worried that landlords would try to do an end run" by evicting people for reasons other than being behind on their rent.

So far, he said, the project — which is an arm of Legal Action of Wisconsin — has only seen a handful of instances where that occurred.  

In order to qualify for protection under the CDC moratorium a tenant must sign a declaration stating, under the threat of perjury, that they cannot pay their full rent due to a "substantial loss of household income, loss of compensable hours of work or wages, lay-offs, or extraordinary out-of-pocket medical expenses." They also must attest that  they have made a "best-efforts" attempt to pay their rent and to receive government rent assistance. 

The declaration must be given to the landlord.

In Steven and Renessa Wright's case, the couple gave their landlord the declaration before they were sued for eviction in October. They thought that would shield them from eviction until January even though they owed about $10,000 in back rent. 

Wright said they fell behind because he didn't receive his VA checks for about four months.Wright, an Army veteran, said he suffers from post traumatic stress syndrome after doing tours in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Wright said they were targeted for eviction because of racism — an allegation that Tristan Pettit, attorney for Wauwatosa Reserve, "categorically denies."

Pettit defended the eviction action saying in an email that "Wauwatosa Reserve complied with Wisconsin law and the CDC’s order regarding proceeding with an eviction action during these turbulent times." Pettit added that the Wrights could have fought the eviction action in court if they thought the charges against them "was a pretext or not true."

 Pettit added that "instead of pursuing that route, the Wrights agreed to vacate."

The couple said they plan to pay their back rent now that Steven's VA payments are back on track. In addition, Steven Wright said, they hope to go to court to have their names sealed from the public record — a request that a landlord can object to.

Helping tenants apply for assistance

The Wrights said they couldn't apply for rent assistance from the government and Wounded Warriors because their landlord refused to sign the application.

Wauwatosa Reserve, through Pettit, declined comment about the applications.

Often, it makes sense for landlords to help tenants apply for rent assistance, said Tori Schultz, who manages about 100 rental units owned by her or others.

If a tenant receives government assistance, the payment goes to the landlord, helping them avoid the cost of filing an eviction and finding a new tenant, she explained.

The  Berrada group of companies which controls about 8,000 rental units, has gone from being an aggressive evictor of tenants to being just as aggressive in helping tenants apply for rent assistance.

Berrada companies, owned by Youssef "Joe" Berrada, filed 256 Milwaukee County eviction suits in the last week of July — accounting for roughly half the 506 evictions filed that week.

Now, Berrada is providing office space for a staff person at Community Advocates who helps Berrada  tenants apply for rent assistance — an arrangement that appears to be helping the tenant and landlord.

Berrada companies have received $786,220 in rent assistance from the county's $7 million rent assistance program and $176,458 from the state's $35 million program. Berrada was the second highest recipient of state funds, behind only Premier Real Estate Management, a Brookfield company that received $232,296.

Some tenants, however, inexplicably refuse the helping hand.

Schultz said she has a tenant who is not paying and shunned her offer to help apply for government assistance.

"She won't get help and I can't evict her — it's  just not fair," Schultz said. When the moratorium ends, "she's going to get evicted and have an eviction on her record."

Heiner Giese, attorney for the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin, agreed that tenants who are hiding behind the moratorium and not working out payment plans will pay a price as soon as the new year dawns.

"That back rent is building up and the landlords will get angry if a tenant doesn't pay anything," Giese said, adding in an email that "landlords will not want to work out a payment arrangement with tenants who have purposely refused to pay anything."

Talis Shelbourne, of the Journal Sentinel, contributed to this story

Contact Cary Spivak at (414) 550-0070  or cspivak@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cspivak or Facebook at facebook.com/cary.spivak.