Evictions Continue In Newark Despite COVID Freeze, Advocates Say – Newark, NJ Patch

NEWARK, NJ — Milagro Blanco lived in Newark for 18 years. Then, the coronavirus hit. Now, the 25-year-old former Brick City resident is crammed into a tiny studio apartment in Weehawken with six other people, yet another victim in a wave of evictions that’s washing over Essex County, advocates say.

Sadly, Blanco’s story isn’t unique, according to the members of Compassionate NJ, a recently formed housing advocacy coalition based in Newark.

Despite a statewide moratorium during the COVID-19 crisis issued in March, evictions have still been taking place “for many reasons,” alleged Maria Lopez-Nuñez of the Ironbound Community Corporation, a member of the new coalition.

“A lot of tenants don’t know that their landlords have to go to court for evictions, so they’re vulnerable to pressure from the landlords,” Lopez-Nuñez told Patch. “Also, there are too many landlords who don’t understand that they are not allowed to evict any tenant themselves. Those are illegal self-help evictions that are rampant.”

“It’s hard to track the spread of the problem during the pandemic, especially given that so many folks are undocumented and scared to report,” Lopez-Nuñez said last week. “But as far as filed evictions go, there have been 5,000 in Essex County so far.”

It can all happen in the blink of an eye, Blanco recalled.

“I room with my best friends, both are 24-years-old and have a little girl that’s four,” Blanco said. “My roommates lived in their previous apartment for about two years. I moved in sometime during the winter of 2019. The area wasn’t the best and the neighbors weren’t all that great, but we made it work with the three of us.”

Since one of the roommates is a stay-at-home mom, the child’s father and Blanco were the only two working adults in the household.

“The condition of the apartment wasn’t that great to begin with, but since it was their first official apartment, they ignored a lot of obvious signs that the apartment was in bad condition,” Blanco said.

“Being young and unexperienced we dealt with mold, mice and roach problems,” Blanco continued. “Through the thin walls, we found out about our neighbors upstairs having a serious drug abuse problem, as well as our landlord. We decided the best course was to save up and move out when the lease was up in a few months in August 2020.”

“Unfortunately, my friend fell into hard times with his work and wasn’t making the money he used to,” the former Newark resident continued. “I was only working part-time and couldn’t pay for three adults and a child’s living expenses.”

Here’s what happened next, Blanco alleges:

“We offered half the rent in cash to our landlord in early June 2020 and the other half could be taken from our security deposit. He didn’t take it too well and threatened to kill us in the apartment and drag us out. He told us he would get his money one way or another. He warned people that he’s known for slashing tires and that ‘he had his connections.’ Knowing that the landlord has a serious drug addiction problem and fearing for the child’s safety, we booked a hotel and moved all our stuff in three days. The cops were called but never showed up. We didn’t want to stay long enough in the apartment to find out if he would go through with his word.”

Now, they’re all living in a tiny studio apartment in Weehawken with a relative of one of Blanco’s friends and her two children … a total of seven people in all.

“I was grossly unprepared for this,” Blanco said last week. “I’m very unstable right now and the future can hold any possibility for me. I feel like I whacked a tree at 70 mph.”

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New Jersey residents like Blanco desperately need legislators to step up to the plate and protect them from property owners and banks who want to carry out evictions and foreclosures in the midst of a health crisis, according to the Ironbound Community Corporation (ICC).

One step in the right direction would be A-4226, a bill that would provide mortgage forbearance for some residential homeowners and protections for certain tenants and landlords during the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the ICC, the proposed bill includes payment plan options for renters, mortgage forbearance for homeowners with “reasonable repayment terms,” and no negative credit reporting.

The bill was slated for a hearing before the General Assembly Housing Committee on Tuesday. (Read the full text here)

The need for more housing protections will still exist long after the coronavirus threat has subsided, however, the ICC warns. According to the nonprofit, about 78 percent of the people living in Newark are renting their homes.

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