Despite Eviction Ban, Some Landlords Pressure Tenants To Leave Amid Pandemic

Robelio walks out of his apartment in Lynn holding a piece of paper with information about his upcoming immigration hearing, after being detained briefly by ICE officers earlier in the day. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)

When Marvin Moreno lost his job at a fish processing plant last spring, he knew he’d have to scramble to pay rent on the East Boston apartment he shared with his wife.

He should have been OK for a while. That’s because a statewide ban on evictions was in place, to protect tenants like Moreno during the coronavirus pandemic. But by late July, tensions rose with the landlord as Moreno fell behind on rent. The landlord got angry about Moreno using the grill, and then wanted him out by August, Moreno said.

“You’re only giving me eight days to leave. I’m not going to find a place,” Moreno, in Spanish, recalled telling the landlord. Moreno asked for three months to find a new place.

The answer was no.

Unofficial eviction tactics like these have ratcheted up amid the pandemic, especially in communities home to immigrant workers and Spanish speakers, according to housing advocates and tenants. The state’s moratorium was supposed to prohibit any attempt to evict people during the six-month period that ends this Saturday. But WBUR found some landlords, frustrated because renters couldn’t pay, have been pressuring tenants to leave.

Read the rest of this story at WBUR’s website.