Anna Rae Gilbert, the woman facing eviction from her Hammond home, has to move out and pay $6,000 in unpaid rent by Monday, a judge ruled Wednesday.

During the hearing, Hobart City Court Judge William Longer ruled in favor of her landlord, Jerome Conway, who requested to take possession of the property Sept. 13 and for the $6,000 payment, though he told the judge that Gilbert owes more than that.

Longer, who has heard the case before and continued the case each time the federal eviction moratorium was in place, said he had to rule on the case Wednesday because the eviction moratorium has expired.

In August, the U.S. Supreme Court blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban that was put in place because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The court’s decision ended protections for roughly 3.5 million people across the country, like Gilbert, who said they faced eviction in the next two months, according to the Census Bureau data from early August.

In the unsigned opinion, the court said that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which reimposed the moratorium Aug. 3, lacked the authority to do so under federal law without congressional approval. The justices rejected the administration’s arguments in support of the CDC’s authority.

Since the moratorium has expired, Lake and Porter county sheriff’s deputies have resumed issuing eviction orders, according to both departments.

Lake County has completed 167 evictions out of the 1,100 court orders that have been filed between January and September, said Lake County Sheriff Oscar Martinez in a statement. In 2019, there were more than 5,400 eviction orders in Lake County, Martinez said.

Throughout most of 2020, an eviction moratorium was issued by the state, so Lake County did not issue evictions, Martinez said. But, when that moratorium expired in January, the department “was legally obligated” to resume evictions, he said.

In Porter County, the county has completed 74 evictions so far in 2021, said Sheriff David Reynolds. That’s on track with 2019, he said, when the department issued 101 eviction notices.

Once a court orders an eviction, Martinez said sheriff’s deputies post the notice and the resident has 48 hours to move. Typically, he said, residents move out within that time because “they are aware Lake County Sheriff’s Department officers will visit the home.”

If the resident does not move out, Martinez said the property owner may remove the resident’s belongings from the property.

“For those who don’t move, as long as we have a legal court order signed by a judge, we have no choice but to assist the landlords in removing the parties from the residences,” Martinez said.

But, if the landlord doesn’t pay the sheriff’s department eviction fee of $100 per eviction, then the eviction does not get executed, Martinez said. Each eviction order has an expiration date, so if the order expires the landlord has to start the process over, he said.

There are a few COVID-19 protocols in place that a judge may issue to delay an eviction, Martinez said. For example, he said, if a member of the household currently has COVID-19 and that can be documented a judge may delay the eviction.

During Gilbert’s Wednesday hearing, Conway testified that he “unfortunately” signed a lease agreement with Gilbert “a while back” and that he’s not willing to receive rental assistance to make up for the lost rent.

Conway filed the eviction paperwork in November, and Gilbert said she then applied for rental assistance through the Indiana Housing and Community Development Authority.

But, according to an email from IHCDA, her application was denied because her “landlord has informed our staff that they are unwilling to participate in our program at this time.” Landlords have the right to deny rental assistance, according to IHCDA.

Conway previously told the Post-Tribune that he denied the rental assistance application because it required a four-month lease extension and he wanted “to mitigate loss.”

During the Wednesday hearing, Gilbert told Conway history won’t forget that he evicted a single mother of two daughters during a pandemic.

“I have suffered a lot because of this,” Gilbert told the court. “We’re entitled to a safe home. I’ve applied (for assistance) ... and it has been rejected over and over.”

After the hearing, Gilbert said she has friends she can rely on to take her family in. But, she didn’t yet know which friend she’d call because she’s currently fighting another legal case that requires her to be in the area and her daughters just started school.

The bigger challenge, she said, is paying the $6,000 by Monday.

“No. Oh my God, no,” Gilbert said, when asked if she could pay the $6,000 by Monday.