In August, an area single mother of two caught COVID-19 and was laid off from work. After a lengthy recovery, she beat the virus and got her job back.

But now she faces eviction because she fell behind on rent and utility payments for August, September, October, November, said Brian Clark, Lake County coordinator for The Salvation Army.

Clark said the Salvation Army was able to pay a portion of the woman’s utility bill and a social worker met with the woman’s landlord. During the meeting, the Salvation Army “paid off a sizable portion” of her missed rent payments and negotiated a grace period.

“As long as she makes a little extra payment each month, then she can stay there,” Clark said.

Northwest Indiana organizations are helping residents with utility payments and paying rent due as the effects of the pandemic continue even after people return to health. But, tenants and landlords have been in difficult positions since March, with many tenants falling behind on rent payments, which impacts a landlord’s mortgage payment, officials said.

About one-third of U.S. households say they’re behind on rent or mortgage payments and likely to face eviction or foreclosure in the next two months, according to data collected by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Eviction moratoriums instituted by 44 states beginning in March have mostly expired. In response, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued the federal moratorium in September that broadly prevents evictions through the end of 2020.

The most recent Coronavirus Relief Bill looks to extend the moratorium through Jan. 31 and provide $25 billion “to help families and individuals pay their rent and utility bills and remain stably housed, while also helping rental property owners of all sizes continue to cover their costs,” according to a U.S. House Committee on financial services report. That bill, after clearng the Senate, has not been signed by President Donald Trump.

Kris Costa Sakelaris, executive director of the Hammond Legal Aid Clinic, said that without helping families pay their back-due rent, the moratorium on evictions just “kicks the can down the road.”

“The rent didn’t go away, it continued to accrue, its just that the landlord was unable to evict them for nonpayment of rent,” Sakelaris said. “So, at the end of the moratorium what’s going to happen is they’re still going to owe all that rent. If it was someone that was living paycheck to paycheck or barely making it to begin with, how do they ever catch up on that?”

The clinic helps with tenant and landlord cases, and Sakelaris said the legal team has had to deal with cases of people being evicted amid the pandemic for other reasons other than not paying rent, like having an unauthorized pet.

The challenge, Sakelaris said, is that when someone goes through an eviction – even if the case is ultimately dismissed – it shows up on a renter’s background check, which could make finding a new home difficult.

What seems unfair, Sakelaris said, is if a tenant has consistently paid rent but hasn’t in recent months because of COVID-19 financial impacts, he or she could be facing eviction. Sakelaris wondered why a landlord would want to evict someone who, under normal circumstances, pays rent and start the process of looking for a new tenant amid a pandemic.

Rosalinda Martinez, assistant property manager of The Lakes at 8201 in Merrillville, said that federal law states that all eviction cases “under the same umbrella” of violation have to be filed at the same time.

“We have no choice but to treat every case the same. So, if I have five units that haven’t paid since October – and I plan on filing them on the 30th of this month – and there’s also five more units that have only not paid December, I have no choice but to file all 10,” Martinez said.

While there have been different eviction moratoriums, Martinez said there was “a small window” in October to get court dates for eviction cases, so property management “weed through the people that were very delinquent” – like residents who didn’t make payments from March through October.

In total, property management there has issued 30 evictions, Martinez said. But, about 10 of the cases were dismissed after the residents worked with management to look for and receive rental assistance. Since March, a big shift has been helping renters receive assistance, Martinez said.

“Because of the pandemic, I was able to work with them more on balances. A lot of them were able to pay to stay and get the assistance and work things out where we were able to cancel and dismiss evictions,” Martinez said.

But, in November, Martinez said, 10 of the residents facing evictions either left voluntarily or were evicted for violating their lease, which isn’t protected under the moratorium. Another eight to 10 cases are still waiting for court cases to proceed in early 2021, she said.

When the 10 residents were evicted in November, Martinez said that the company was able to clear $40,000 from its monthly delinquency and move the rent due to a collection agency. The company’s standard is to be 3% or lower in delinquency – the delinquency rate has been 15% throughout the pandemic, she said.

Once an eviction notice is filed, it does show up on a tenant’s rental history, Martinez said. If the case is ultimately dismissed, that shows up on their record too, and Martinez said she gives tenants a letter as further proof that the case was dismissed.

“Communication is key,” Martinez said. “I’ve even been able to not file a handful of people because of their great communication and working with the assistance programs and keeping me afloat.”