Thousands of Virginia residents are now at risk of losing their homes during the pandemic under a new order issued by the state Supreme Court.

The order, released Monday by Virginia Chief Justice Donald Lemons, allows courts across the state to resume hearings for evictions on June 29, the day after a temporary stay expires. A second order lets courts immediately resume eviction hearings that aren’t related to nonpayment of rent, such as if a tenant breaches the terms of their lease.

Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam had requested a pause on evictions for most of June while the state prepared a new rent relief program to help tenants who have lost income during the pandemic. That program has not yet been implemented.

It’s not clear whether Northam will request another pause on evictions while the relief program is underway. A spokesperson for the governor did not immediately respond to DCist/WAMU’s request for comment.

Advocates for low-income renters say the order is both surprising and disappointing, after Virginia’s Supreme Court had approved multiple delays for eviction cases as the public health crisis continues.

“This is a 180 degree turnaround from what the court did two weeks ago,” says Rob Poggenklass, an attorney with the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville. “We’re in the middle of a global health crisis, and now we’re talking about making people homeless because they can’t pay their bills.”

Advocates say they’re rushing to find ways to delay evictions for Virginians at immediate risk of homelessness. Some are continuing to encourage local sheriffs to delay issuing writs of eviction in areas with high COVID-19 rates, as well as communicating with landlords’ attorneys to ask whether their clients plan to pursue eviction proceedings during the pandemic.

“Everyone’s trying to scramble to assess their situations to see how they can help tenants,” says an attorney in Virginia whose employer has not authorized them to speak with media.

But while the judicial order allows courts to resume evictions as early as Monday, bureaucratic issues may slow down the process. Many eviction writs issued last month — during a two-week period when there was no statewide eviction ban in place — have expired by now, as they’re only valid for 30 days. Some courts may also choose to hear evictions at a later date, depending on how many high-priority hearings they have to get through first.

Also, evictions remain banned at properties with federally backed mortgages or federal subsidies in Virginia, per the federal CARES Act. Virginia’s General Assembly allowed tenants to seek a 60-day eviction continuance if they appear in court and prove they lost their income due to the pandemic.

But hundreds of Virginia residents whose evictions were approved last month may still be out of luck.

“If you really drew the short straw here, you could be evicted on Monday,” says Christie Marra with the Virginia Poverty Law Center.

According to the most recent household pulse survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau, 14.8% of Virginians (with a 3.5% margin of error) report being housing insecure, meaning they missed last month’s rent or mortgage payment, or have “slight or no confidence” that they can pay next month’s rent or mortgage.

In Charlottesville, the Legal Aid Justice Center has sent a letter to Virginia’s chief justice requesting another 21-day stay on evictions.

“Essentially our message was, ‘Look, we’ve already got two crises,’ ” says attorney Rob Poggenklass. “‘We’ve got a public health crisis and we’ve got an economic crisis. We don’t need to add a third one, which is widespread homelessness.'”