NW Valley Times

Renters hurt by the COVID-19 pandemic won’t be evicted in Arizona at least until after Saturday, Oct. 31 under an executive order by Gov. Doug Ducey.

He extended an earlier moratorium on evictions issued in March. Eligible renters should contact their landlord or property owner in writing about the hardship and request a payment plan, the governor said.

“Today’s plan protects families and individuals impacted by COVID-19 while empowering them to keep making rent payments,” Ducey said in a statement. “This is the right thing to do for public health and our economy.”

Alexander Kolodin, a real estate attorney who ran as a Republican for the state Senate District 23 seat, disagreed with the governor’s extension.

“The extension of the eviction moratorium is very poorly considered,” Kolodin told the NW Valley Times. “It relies on the legal fiction that since renters will continue to owe rent during the moratorium, landlords will be made whole in the end.”

It usually doesn’t work out that way, Kolodin said.

“In practice, however, rent is usually the last thing that someone stops paying when they run out of money,” he said. “Because of this, evicted tenants are usually judgment proof and landlords rarely bother to even try to collect from a tenant they have evicted.”

The practical effect of the extension of the eviction moratorium is “to bring Bernie Sanders-style ‘housing for all' to fruition in Arizona on the backs of private property owners, who must continue paying their mortgages," Kolodin said.

In addition to extending the moratorium, Ducey announced an additional $650,000 in funding for community action agencies to hire additional staff to speed up assistance to renters and the homeless.

He earlier announced nearly $6 million in federal funds to organizations that provide counseling services, rental assistance and other services.

State and local governments in Arizona have distributed more than $80 million to assist renters and prevent homelessness, the governor said.