Report: Santa Fe evictions continue despite moratoriums

Apr. 28—While city, state and federal eviction moratoriums are preventing many tenants from being removed from their homes during the coronavirus pandemic, landlords in Santa Fe are still finding ways remove some renters, a new report says.

The local nonprofit Chainbreaker Collective and California-based research firm Human Impact Partners hosted a panel talk this week on the findings in its report and efforts needed to prevent a crisis when the moratoriums are lifted.

"How big is this eviction tsunami going to be?" asked Elizabeth Elia, an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico School of Law, who was one of the panelists at the Monday event. "We have some inkling that at least in Santa Fe, our tsunami might look like 5,700 eviction cases to be filed once these moratoria expire or are lifted."

A federal moratorium on evictions is set to expire June 30, while those ordered by the city and state Supreme Court have no specific end date. Currently, they are set to last until the end of the state's public health order.

Each of the moratoriums says a tenant can't be evicted for nonpayment of rent, but past-due payments aren't forgiven. Rent payments and late fees can pile up while the eviction process is halted.

Under the moratoriums, eviction filings in the city dropped from an average of 558 per year between 2017 and 2019 to 280 in 2020, according to the Chainbreaker report.

The types of filings also have changed.

More landlords aiming to evict tenants are now filing restitution claims rather than claims of past-due rent, the report found.

"Total evictions claims reduced, but the proportions have shifted. Only nonpayment of rent is protected under the moratorium, but other reasons exist for filing eviction claims," said Sukhdip Purewal Boparai, a researcher with Human Impact Partners.

"We saw a sevenfold increase in evictions for no fault," Boparai said, "which means the landlord decided not to renew a lease on a month-to-month basis while the percentage of evictions filed for nonrent debt, other types of money due, almost tripled."

Of the 35,593 occupied housing units in Santa Fe, 40 percent are inhabited by renters who make an average of $41,375 annually, and half the city's renters are "rent burdened," meaning they spend more than 30 percent of their income on rent, according to a previous report Chainbreaker presented to the City Council in February.

Mayor Alan Webber, another panelist at Monday's event, highlighted a handful of measures in the proposed city budget for fiscal year 2022 designed to help renters, including direct cash assistance and a new hotline to help tenants mediate disputes with landlords.

In the fall, the city's Economic Relief Fund distributed almost $3.6 million in federal emergency cash assistance to residents. Webber said another $3 million in the upcoming city budget for the Affordable Housing Trust Fund could be used for rent and mortgage assistance.

"I think a lot of advocates fear that when those moratoria expire that dozens and dozens, hundreds, maybe, of folks will be evicted by their landlords," Alexandra Ladd, director of the city's Office of Affordable Housing, said Monday. "I think a lot of landlords have also not been able to pay their mortgages on these properties. I think there is also a need there."

Webber added he also is planning to put $75,000 in the city budget for a tenants rights hotline and mediation services.

"This budget has an opportunity for a hotline and mediation service, so situations don't turn into evictions without any interventions," he said.

In a presentation before the panel, the Chainbreaker Collective offered several recommendations for the city to address the potential crisis. In addition to measures already introduced by Webber, the collective urged the city to do the following:

* Extend Santa Fe's eviction moratorium.

* Implement landlord licensing through a city ordinance so that registration fees are collected.

* Shift eviction moratorium enforcement from law enforcement to building code inspectors.

* Forgive city-owned water utility debt.

Webber said the city also is exploring the possibility of funding further purchases of hotels and motels to convert into low-cost housing units, like it has done with Santa Fe Suites. Last year, the city put $2 million in federal CARES Act funds toward the nonprofit Community Solutions' $9 million purchase of the property at South St. Francis Drive and West Zia Road. The organization has converted the former hotel into 123 housing units.

Part of the problem, the mayor said, is an overall housing shortage.

"We just need more rental housing," Webber said. "We want our young people to be able to afford to live here."

Around 53 percent of people who work in Santa Fe commute to the city, he noted.

Lara Yoder, a housing coordinator at nonprofit The Life Link, said she is bracing for the calls the organization will receive seeking help with housing assistance when the moratoriums are lifted.

"We have a family of five that is a renting a one-bedroom out of a house for $500 a month," she said. "We could help them with money for a deposit and percentage of rent for a time, but there are no places available."