Illinois evictions resume amid housing shortage

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Evictions have resumed in Illinois, and while some tenants are still protected others are now getting notices.

"They are still deeply impacted by the pandemic," said Karla Chrobak, supervising attorney at CARPLS Legal Aid.

Chrobak said many of their clients remain deeply impacted by the pandemic, and now housing is harder to find.

"So now the eviction crisis is causing another crisis in housing because so many tenants that have not moved out of the properties, so now there are fewer housing options," she said.

On the other side, the moratorium on evictions has impacted landlords who depend on rent as income.

"We are paying two mortgages and borrowing money from family, using money we saved for our kids' college fund," said Rose Arvia, property owner. "We basically used all our savings that we've worked our lives to get."

Arvia and her husband have one condo they rent in the West Loop. She said their tenant has not paid since 2019, and an eviction was ordered just as the pandemic began.

"We are just waiting for the day when the sheriff can go and we can get our lives back to normal," she said.

Arvia is eager to see if the eviction will move forward.

Some people are still covered by Governor Pritzker's eviction moratorium, which has been extended until July 24. Here are the criteria for the extension:

Like his previous Executive Order, before serving tenants with a Notice of Termination of Tenancy, landlords must deliver to tenants a declaration that tenants may then execute and deliver back to landlords to trigger the protections of the moratorium. Under the declaration, the tenant states that:

1. the individual either (i) expects to earn no more than $99,000 in annual income for calendar year 2020 (or no more than $198,000 if filing a joint tax return), (ii) was not required to report any income in 2019 to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service, or (iii) received an Economic Impact Payment pursuant to Section 2001 of the CARES Act;

2. the individual is unable to make a full rent or housing payment due to a COVID-19 related hardship including, but not limited to: substantial loss of income, loss of compensable hours of work or wages, or an increase in out-of-pocket expenses directly related to the COVID-19 pandemic;

3. the individual is using best efforts to make timely partial payments that are as close to the full payment as the individual's circumstances may permit, taking into account other non-discretionary expenses; and

4. eviction would likely render the individual homeless - or force the individual to move into and live in close quarters in a new congregate or shared living setting - because the individual has no other available housing options.