LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a nationwide moratorium on evictions from now until the end of the year, but renters aren't automatically protected.

The CDC's effort to clamp down on homelessness during the pandemic and into the flu-season months will help some renters, but experts say Arkansas has a dismal record when it comes to renter's rights and rental assistance.

Lynn Foster, emeritus professor of law for the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, said renters have fewer rights in Arkansas than in any other state.

She said the most commonly used eviction procedure for nonpayment of rent is called an unlawful detainer. Under the provision, a tenant has five days to respond to the court order and must pay the owed rent amount in full.

"And in order to have a hearing before the court, they have to find the money that they couldn't pay in the first place and file it with the court," Foster explained. "To my knowledge, we're the only state that has a law like that, and it's clearly designed just to push tenants out as quickly and easily as possible for the landlord."

Foster said the CDC moratorium only applies to tenants who have signed the agency's declaration form and delivered it to their landlord.

Residents can find a copy of the form on the Arkansas Legal Services website.

For assistance, call 501-376-3423 if you live in central, southern and western Arkansas, or 1-800-952-9243 if you live in northwest or north central Arkansas.

Neil Sealy, executive director for Arkansas Renters United and Arkansas Community Organizations, said he worries about so-called "self-help" evictions occurring across the state, despite the CDC moratorium.

He said they often go unreported.

"But it's illegal, and that's when the landlord could cut off utilities and change the locks and force a tenant out, without going through the eviction process," Sealy said.

Foster said the CDC order does not relieve tenants of the obligation to pay rent owed or any late fees or other penalties.

When the moratorium expires on Dec. 31, she fears thousands of renters will ring in the new year owing large sums of money they don't have, with little help available.

"Our rent-assistance program leaves much to be desired," Foster said. "I have looked and looked for some kind of a mass list where a tenant could go to see where they can even apply for rent assistance. I don't think there is one. I haven't found one."

At least 36 states have established a statewide emergency fund to assist renters.

According to Census survey data, around 27% of Arkansas renters who live in households with children said they have no or little confidence they can pay next month's rent.


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New York's 2025 budget takes proactive steps to address rural housing.

In the budget, $10 million was allocated for improvements to rural housing built by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Section 515 program. Rural housing organizations asked for $25 million but are grateful the state is taking action.

Mike Borges, executive director of the Rural Housing Coalition of New York, said another bill the Legislature should pass makes the Mobile and Manufactured Home Replacement Program permanent.

"Basically what that does is provide grants to low- to moderate-income people to replace their mobile homes that are dilapidated and unsafe," Borges explained.

He would also like to see administration fees increase for nonprofits taking part in the Access to Home Program, which provides accessibility modification for low- to moderate-income residents. Reports showed it got requests totaling $12 million but only got enough funding for $1 million in improvements. The Senate is poised to pass both bills, leaving the Assembly as the final hurdle.

However, the budget was not perfect for rural housing. Borges said one shortcoming of the 2025 budget were cuts to the RESTORE program, which provides emergency repairs for low-to-moderate-income seniors. He said New York should take action now to continue improving rural housing preservation and development.

"We need a comprehensive housing initiative that looks at the obstacles to building and renovating, repairing housing in rural communities," Borges contended. "The three main obstacles to that are local capacity, infrastructure and targeted programs for rural housing."

He added rural areas do not often have the same resources and capacity as urban communities. Because rural housing is in short supply because of the aging housing stock, there have been stark population declines from rural New York communities.

Orange County's Supreme Court reversed a decision letting the city of Newburgh implement state tenant protections.

The city declared a housing emergency in 2023 when a study showed a vacancy rate less than 4%. The lawsuit overturning the protections found that the study was flawed, leading the court to invalidate it.

Daniel Atonna, political coordinator for the group For the Many, said this leaves tenants in a precarious position.

"This rips away protections for tenants in over 730 apartments in the city of Newburgh," he said, "at a time when tenants all across the Hudson Valley, all across New York, are facing difficult conditions as landlords are trying to evict them and raise their rent."

The petitioner's attorney said if unchecked, the city's actions would have made drastic changes to the rental market without legal basis.

This ruling also keeps Newburgh from setting up a rent guidelines board to decide whether rent-stabilized tenants' rents should stay the same, increase or decrease. Atonna said he hopes the city redoes the survey and implements these protections.

Atonna thinks Newburgh should opt into the newly passed Good Cause Eviction protections. This could better protect tenants, although some housing advocates feel these protections are ineffective. He said many residents support having tenant protections.

"Because it's meant stabilization for the community, right? It means a strong community where their neighbors aren't getting uprooted and evicted every couple of years," he said. "So, this was something that was going to be good for everyone."

A 2021 survey found 77% of Newburgh residents would leave the city because of high rents. It also found that people spend more than 30% of their income on rent.


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The Supreme Court case Grants Pass v. Gloria Johnson could upend homeless populations in Connecticut and nationwide.

The case centers around whether municipalities can fine or ticket people for sleeping outside when there is no shelter available. Connecticut had an eight-year decline in homelessness, but the last two Point-in-Time snapshots indicated it is rising again.

Sarah Fox, CEO of the Connecticut Coalition to End Homelessness, said ticketing and fining homeless people only harms them.

"It in fact prolongs their experience of homelessness," Fox asserted. "Once someone is engaged with the criminal legal system, it impacts and affects every other part of their life and their world."

She argued the state needs to work proactively to reduce homelessness, such as tackling the affordable-housing crisis. Connecticut has a shortage of more than 98,000 affordable rental homes. Fox suggested an interagency council on homelessness can ensure homeless people have better access to services and emphasized more funding will create a more effective system for sheltering homeless people.

Homelessness has risen 6% nationally since 2017.

Ann Oliva, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said affordable housing and services are key to ending homelessness. She stressed along with state- and local-level work, federal investments can help squelch rising homelessness.

"Investments by Congress in housing affordability, that means rental assistance for everybody who is eligible for rental assistance," Oliva stressed. "Right now, only one out of every four households that's eligible for federal rental assistance can get it because of funding challenges."

Based on the Supreme Court's ruling, she feels ordinances criminalizing homelessness could increase. Even so, Oliva added all three levels of government should be aware of actual solutions to curb homelessness.


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