skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

WV Housing Groups Brace for Evictions as Courts Reopen

play audio
Play

Friday, June 5, 2020   

CHARLESTON, W.Va. - West Virginia's court system has reopened, after being closed to limit the spread of the new coronavirus. Now, advocates for renters are bracing for a flood of evictions, from people financially strapped because of job loss in the pandemic.

Ellen Allen - executive director of Covenant House, a homeless shelter and resource center in Charleston - says it's too soon to see an overall rise in evictions, since housing courts reopened just three weeks ago.

But her center was swamped with eviction cases from March to May. She says Covenant House is also getting many calls from people who have never before faced eviction - until this month.

"I think you will see homelessness increase, and they would be new homeless," says Allen. "People who were used to living paycheck to paycheck. But now, because of a partial economy, I think we're going to see more people experience homelessness for the first time."

This week, the West Virginia Community Action Partnership received a grant from the Veteran's Administration of over a million dollars to provide housing services for homeless and evicted veterans.

Legal Aid of West Virginia also is offering help to people facing eviction. Start online at 'LAWV.net.'

Allen says much more government funding is needed to tackle the rise in homelessness expected from the pandemic. She says her group alone has seen its caseload rise by about 25% since March, and they're still waiting on federal dollars to support the extra cases and continue their work.

"We need federal housing assistance money to flow into our communities," says Allen. "That's what communities need. If we're going to build a resilient community and economy during and post-COVID-19, this housing money needs to flow."

From 2000 to 2016, West Virginia had a 3.5% eviction rate, according to the Eviction Lab at Princeton University. The town of Berkeley Springs in Morgan County had the highest rate in the state, at about 15%. Rates in Martinsburg and Middleway are over 10%.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Environment

play sound

A Knoxville-based environmental group is voicing concerns over what it sees as an increasing financial strain imposed on taxpayers by nuclear weapons …

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021