Hundreds of renters each week in Maricopa County are still facing eviction since the start of the pandemic and experts say many more evictions could be coming.
Gov. Doug Ducey’s executive order limiting evictions in the state only applies to enforcement. Landlords still are able to file in court. Filings have declined, but more than 9,000 evictions have been filed in Maricopa County courts since mid-March, according to Eviction Lab at Princeton University.
The expiration of CARES Act benefits at the end of July means unemployment payouts have been dramatically reduced, and Alieza Durana with Eviction Lab said that could contribute to more evictions.
“We’re really seeing families having to figure out whether they spend money on rent, do they spend money on food, or medicine, if they even have that choice," Durana said. “We would expect to start seeing families struggle to make September rent, that a lot of the challenges families and communities might be facing, that those will materialize in the next month or two.”
Arizona’s eviction moratorium is set to expire at the end of October.