Attorney General Merrick Garland and Associate Attorney General Vanita Gupta met on August 11 with more than 35 state supreme court chief justices to discuss the associate attorney general’s June 24 letter urging state courts to raise awareness of emergency rental assistance (ERA) programs and to implement eviction-diversion efforts in their jurisdictions.
Addressing the great threat of evictions at a time when the COVID-19 Delta variant is surging, Attorney General Garland thanked the chief justices for the efforts already undertaken, highlighting the state supreme court of Michigan, which issued an order requiring courts to stay eviction proceedings for up to 45 days to allow tenants to apply for ERA, and the supreme court of Texas, where modified eviction notices are sent to tenants to ensure sure they are aware of ERA resources available to them. Building awareness of ERA with landlords and tenants and implementing court-mandated eviction-diversion processes can increase opportunities for tenants to stay in their homes, provide landlords – particularly small-scale landlords – back-rent owed to them, and assist courts inundated with eviction filings.
A readout of the meeting can be found here: https://tinyurl.com/ez6wxdpp