TheBurg

01.21 | THEBURGNEWS.COM | 13 After all, landlords have obligations, as well. ey have mortgages and taxes to pay. ey also have a responsibility to keep up with the maintenance of the building, Cunningham said. PLANNING AHEAD Angela Parker-Quarles' phone has been ringing nonstop lately. She estimated that her phone calls have increased by 45% over the past months. People call Parker-Quarles at e Fair Housing Council of the Capital Region frantic and desperate for help. When contacted recently, she was working with a 70-year-old resident in Steelton who was facing eviction. e Fair Housing Council tries to bridge the gap between landlords and tenants, Parker-Quarles explained. ey provide education on renters' rights and responsibilities. During the pandemic, she has tried to help clients think long-term. She's afraid some people aren't preparing for what happens after the moratoriums end. "You can flash that declaration, but if you're doing that without a plan, they're just going to be at your door when it ends," she said. She's been helping people find employment and other support services in order to get back on track with rent. However, rental assistance is in short supply, she said. For people like Bobby Mitchell, that would make all the difference. With no one in Mitchell's household employed, they couldn't pay their full rent. Eventually, his son and son's mother found employment. While the family is able to keep up now, they have three months' worth of back rent. Christian Churches United of the Tri-County Area is able to help families facing homelessness find shelter, Executive Director Darrel Reinford said. ey also have some funds for rental assistance through their homelessness programs. In December, the city of Harrisburg also launched a rent relief program to provide funds for those struggling to pay rent. ey offered up to $5,000 per household. According to Sandy Ballard, public services coordinator for the Dauphin County Bar Association, one of the biggest issues is a lack of communication between landlords and tenants. "What's surprising is people get an eviction notice and won't even call the other side and say, 'Hey, can we talk?'" said Ballard. "It's in both parties' best interests to come up with a plan." Ballard worked with Matt Rich of MidPenn Legal Services, Reinford and others to come up with a plan to try to help stop evictions. ey are hosting free mediation sessions for landlords and tenants. Every Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Zoom, volunteer attorneys work with landlord-tenant pairs from Dauphin County to provide education and assist them in agreeing on a payment plan to avoid eviction. While there had only been a few sessions by early December, Ballard said that they are going well. UNCERTAIN FUTURE Mitchell has boxes packed around his house. He fills a few, here and there, "just in case," he said. When I called to check in on him on a mid-December morning, he said he was "hanging in there." But as a wet snow fell in Harrisburg, Mitchell said that he was worried. He still had around $4,000 of back rent to pay. "It's cold out there," he said. at same night, Harrisburg City Council voted to impose a 30-day moratorium on evictions for non-payment of rent and lease expiration. rough mid-January, Mitchell was safe again, possibly longer, if the city chose to renew the ban on evictions. "Prolonging this will probably help us," he said. But in this case, time isn't money, and Mitchell expected the debt would still be there once the moratorium ends, like the last one. While moratoriums like the CDC's and Harrisburg's deal with the immediate need of shelter during a crisis, Cunningham said that extending them too long is "really just kicking the can down the road." Parker-Quarles expressed a similar sentiment, adding that a moratorium should go hand-in-hand with some sort of payment plan requirement for the tenant. "I'd like to see some kind of plan in place to get these individuals out of the situation," she said. For now, Mitchell's family will keep saving a bit of money from each paycheck and keep some boxes packed, just in case they need to find a new place to live. "All we want to do is have a roof over our heads," he said. EVICTION AND RENTAL ASSISTANCE RESOURCES ______ Center for Peace and Justice: 717-233-3072 Christian Churches United of the Tri-County Area: www.ccuhbg.org, 717-230-9550 Dauphin County Bar Association Mediation program: www.dcba-pa.org Fair Housing Council of the Capital Region: www.pafairhousing.org, 717-238-9540 Greater Harrisburg Area Tenants United: www.harrisburgtenants.org, 717-461-2096 Mid Penn Legal Services: www.midpenn.org, 800-326-9177 Bobby Mitchell Photos by Jelani Splawn

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