program ends May 15?

No relief

Housing advocates predict eviction spike as state rent relief program nears end

By Brielle Entzminger

reporter@c-ville.com

Since the Supreme Court ended the national eviction moratorium in August, many Virginians have been able to stay in their homes thanks to the state’s rent relief program. But on May 15, the program will stop accepting new applications due to dwindling funds, leaving struggling renters with few other assistance options.

Once the program ends, Charlottesville and Albemarle residents facing eviction can still apply to the Pathways Fund (833524-2904), which is prioritizing tenants who owe less than $1,000 in back rent. And across the state, residents in need of rent relief—among other types of assistance— should call 211 to see what local resources are available to them.

However, many community assistance programs have run out of funding over the past two years, explains Lydia Brunk, cochair of Charlottesville Democratic Socialists of America’s Housing Justice Committee, which connects local residents facing eviction with resources. The state’s program has been the sole source of relief for many tenants behind on rent.

“There are definitely community organizations doing good work, but they can’t be expected to fill in the big giant hole that’s going to be left by an entire statewide-funded eviction prevention program,” says Brunk. “It’s simply not reasonable for the state to pull back this huge social funding, and then for the community to try and patch up the holes.”

With limited rent relief available, housing advocates predict a spike in evictions in the coming weeks. Over the past few months, evictions have already been on the rise— since February 28, there have been 77 eviction hearings in Charlottesville and 260 in Albemarle County, according to court data collected by Charlottesville DSA. During the week of April 11, the two localities had over 85 hearings combined.

STAFF PHOTO

The Legal Aid Justice Center doesn’t have enough funding to guarantee a lawyer for every area resident facing eviction, but it has recently hired more attorneys, which means it can represent more tenants.

The Legal Aid Justice Center urges anyone who receives an eviction notice to show up to their court date.

“There have been property managers and landlords telling people [not to go], and that’s the easiest way to automatically lose your case,” says Moriah Wilkins, LAJC’s Skadden Legal Fellow.

“The number-one thing you can do to advocate for yourself is just be present,” adds Victoria McCullough, co-chair of DSA’s housing justice committee. “That will give you some time between the first court date and whatever else happens next to shore up some support, and we can try to help you with that.”

Additionally, tenants at risk of losing their homes should keep records of correspondence they’ve had with their landlord. Through June 30, all landlords are required under state law to give tenants who are behind on rent a written 14-day notice to pay what they owe, including information about the 211 assistance line and—until it ends— the Virginia Rent Relief Program, before proceeding with an eviction. Those who own four units must also offer a payment plan of up to six months for past-due rent. And before May 15, landlords are required to apply to the VRRP on the tenant’s behalf during the 14-day notice period, if the tenant has not already applied or agreed to a payment plan.

“If there are any legal errors in the notice given to you by your landlord, you may be able to prevent or delay your eviction,” says Wilkins.

Until June 30, landlords will still be prohibited from evicting tenants who’ve applied to the VRRP, unless they are not approved to receive relief within 45 days, are found ineligible, or the program runs out of funding.

Local residents facing eviction can contact the LAJC for legal assistance, including help filling out their VRRP application. In July, Charlottesville City Council allocated $300,000 in American Rescue Plan funds to the nonprofit to create an eviction prevention pilot program. With legal representation, tenants facing eviction are far more likely to remain in their homes—yet few can afford a lawyer. Meanwhile, a majority of landlords have attorneys with them in court.

LAJC is also currently in the process of finalizing a $200,000 contract with Albemarle County for eviction prevention. Though LAJC has not received enough funding to guarantee a lawyer for every local resident facing eviction, it has been able to hire additional attorneys since last summer, enabling it to represent more tenants.

More funding from the city may be on the way. “This budget cycle we also voted to allocate $1 million to boost our rent and mortgage relief programs, [but] additional money could potentially be added to support emergency rent relief/eviction prevention when the second tranche of our American Rescue Plan Act money becomes available,” Councilor Michael Payne told C-VILLE in an email. “We haven’t yet had any formal discussions about how to fully allocate that money.”

According to Wilkins, LAJC is prioritizing local residents with unlawful detainers, especially those with housing subsidies. Even if the nonprofit’s lawyers are unable to take on a tenant’s case, they give them free advice on what to do on their court date.

“We tell people to ask for a hearing. This is when you will have the opportunity to argue your case, and stay in your home,” says Wilkins. “And if you have applied to rent relief prior to May 15, let the judge know— that can be another protection.”

In the meantime, housing advocates encourage struggling tenants to apply to the VRRP as soon as possible—applicants often endure lengthy wait times. Households that make less than half their area’s median income, or with one or more people who have been unemployed for at least 90 days, are being prioritized until the application deadline.

NOMINATE US FOR NOMINATE US FOR BEST HOME BUILDER! BEST HOME BUILDER!

“I would say, if you care about women in your household or that you know, or if you are a woman, you should definitely be on high alert and acting because your future is at stake.”

KOBBY HOFFMAN, FOUNDER OF THE BLUE RIDGE ABORTION FUND AND NOW DELEGATE

Our bodies, our choice

Leaked Supreme Court draft opinion sparks fear, outrage… and hope

By Courteney Stuart

courteney@c-ville.com

Hours after a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion made real the likelihood that Roe v. Wade will be fully overturned by summer, reversing decades of legal protection for a woman’s right to control her own body, protesters gathered in front of the federal courthouse in downtown Charlottesville.

“This is so major, because if you read the draft… it basically says that Roe v. Wade is not legitimately based in the original decision back in 1973,” says Kobby Hoffman, founder of the Blue Ridge Abortion Fund, which provides funding to allow lowincome women to access abortions.

The immediate past president of the local chapter of the National Organization for Women, Hoffman is currently a NOW delegate representing eight states. She helped organize the courthouse protest and spoke over cars horns honking in support and her fellow protesters’ chants.

“Of course, we have no idea where it will end up,” Hoffman says of the draft opinion. “It’s very extreme. I would say, if you care about women in your household or that you know, or if you are a woman, you should definitely be on high alert and acting because your future is at stake.”

As pro-choice advocates across the country reacted with alarm to the majority opinion drafted by the George W. Bush-appointed uber-conservative Justice Samuel Alito and signed by justices Neil Gorsuch, Clarence Thomas, Brett Kavanaugh, and Amy Coney Barrett, Republican elected officials who have long voiced opposition to abortion also expressed outrage, not over the content of the draft, but with the leak itself.

“I am in utter disbelief that the sacred confidentiality of the Supreme Court would be violated in this manner,” Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin said in a release the day the draft leaked, alleging it was “done in order to cause chaos and to put pressure on justices and elected officials.”

Youngkin insisted speculation on the Supreme Court’s final decision is “premature,” and wrote that he prefers to direct attention elsewhere. “While we wait for the final June decision, we will be focused on lowering taxes for Virginians, funding education and law enforcement because we need to get a budget passed,” his statement reads.

Unlike dozens of other states, Virginia has no “trigger law” that kicks into place outlawing abortion immediately if Roe is overturned, so abortion will remain legal in the commonwealth in the immediate future unless new legislation is passed.

“Virginians—please know your right to abortion is protected in state law for now,” tweeted Delegate Sally Hudson. “Holding our Senate and flipping the House is how we keep it that way.”

At a town hall appearance on Wednesday, 7th District Representative Abigail Spanberger also weighed in, urging action at the federal legislative level.

“This leaked draft Supreme Court opinion is poised to erase a woman’s right to privacy and reproductive health care that has been settled law for nearly a half century. The U.S. House of Representatives has voted to codify Roe v. Wade. The U.S. Senate needs to follow suit and pass this bill.”

EZE AMOS

Students and community members gathered for a teach-in at the UVA Rotunda following a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.

Local conservative elected officials stayed mum or stuck to comments on the ethical breach the leak represents. Delegate Rob Bell declined to comment on the draft opinion or any state legislative efforts that might follow such a final decision from the Supreme Court. State Senator Bryce Reeves did not respond to a reporter’s request for comment.

But activists who have fought to outlaw abortion in Virginia and beyond voiced hope that the draft ruling will represent the court’s final decision.

“We are not the ones that have a right to define who lives and who dies,” says Abe Nelson of the grassroots group Charlottesville Pro-Life, which is opposed to abortion in all cases, including rape and incest. Nelson hopes the leak won’t change the conservative justices’ support for the opinion, and he believes the right to access abortion should be determined by individual states.

“It’s right to bring this back to a status where we as a people, as individuals and citizens, can speak into this issue more directly,” Nelson says. “Now, I would hope that our direction in that would be one that affirms the value of life from the moment of conception.”

UVA Media Studies Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan, co-creator of the Democracy in Danger podcast, says the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion is further evidence of the decline of U.S. democracy. A majority of the American public supports the right to choose, he says, and he points out that the basis for Alito’s opinion would also undercut other hard-won civil rights.

“Even though same-sex marriage is remarkably popular around the country, it is vulnerable because you can no longer rely on that basic principle that what consenting adults do in their homes is not the business of the government to restrict,” Vaidhyanathan says. “And so, you know, I see this as softening up the process for addressing…LGBTQ issues rather directly and maybe going beyond that, maybe looking at restricting certain forms of contraception.”

Hoffman says the looming reversal of Roe is more evidence of the need for the Equal Rights Amendment, which would enshrine women’s rights in the Constitution.

“Everyone needs to be aware that there’s something called ‘strict scrutiny,’” she says. “And that applies to race and to religion. And if we had the Equal Rights Amendment and it said that you could not discriminate on the basis of sex, then you would be able to go back on things like abortion and say, please look at this again, because you need to apply strict scrutiny, not something lesser, and maybe the outcome would be different.”

With the Supreme Court’s final decision in Dobbs v. Jackson due by the end of term this summer, activists on both sides of the issue are preparing for a post-Roe world.

Nelson says he doesn’t believe the statistics that show low-income women will be disproportionately affected by the end of legal abortion or that a forced pregnancy will have a negative impact on a woman’s life.

“If we were to pour…even a fraction of the resources that currently go into this battle that we’re engaged in over Roe versus Wade…into supporting life in a post-Roe world, we would be in a much better position supporting organizations that come alongside women and men affected by unplanned and crisis pregnancies,” he says.

Hoffman says engaging voters in local, state, and national elections is critical.

“It matters. It really matters,” she says. “And everything that we do, it adds up. And we can make a big wave that will make people realize how big this is, how important this is to all of our lives and to our future, for our future, for our country and its democracy and so many different aspects.”

CULTURE

WEDNESDAY 5/11

TRUE COMPANION

Andrew Dominik’s acclaimed 2016 documentary One More Time with Feeling followed Australian musician Nick Cave on an emotional journey of creation and loss when, during the recording of a new album with his band, Cave’s son tragically passed away. Dominik has reunited with Cave and Warren Ellis, Cave’s collaborator, for the companion film, This Much I Know To Be True, an optimistic and hopeful doc that captures the creation of their last two studio albums. $13-15, 7:30pm. The Paramount Theater, 215 E. Main St., Downtown Mall. theparamount.net

FILE PHOTO

SATURDAY 5/14

GOT SKILLS?

The How-To Festival is a fun, fast-paced day of learning that helps you master a new skill in just 15-30 minutes. Local professionals and organizations take over the library to give short, interactive demonstrations and presentations on a variety of topics, including technology, food and drink, repairs, health, and more. Sessions include cello playing, houseplant care, small press printing, the benefits of essential oils, and Qigong. Free, 10am-1pm. Central Library, 201 E. Market St. jmrl.org

MONDAY 5/16

ENJOY THE RIDE

Clad in a skin-tight jumpsuit and singing through a motorcycle helmet wired to a telephone handset, Bob Log III delivers a one-man show of musical mayhem like no other. The Arizona-based multi-instrumentalist stomps on a homemade cymbal with one leg, a kick drum with the other, and plays finger-picked slide guitar while singing original crowd favorites including “Boob Scotch” and “I Want Your Shit On My Leg.” The interactive show features plenty of props, shots, and maybe a little bit of crowd surfing. $12-15, 8pm. The Southern Café & Music Hall, 103 First St. S. thesoutherncville.com