Five months into the national health crisis, Washingtonians are more vulnerable than ever to losing their homes.

The $600 weekly unemployment benefits have dried up, and the White House’s new unemployment offering is smaller and less popular. Furloughs and temporary layoffs have become permanent. A national ban on evictions at federally financed properties expired last month. Landlords—especially those at risk of foreclosure—are increasingly desperate to collect rent from tenants who have fallen behind.

For thousands of jobless residents, there are only two thin layers of protection left: temporary eviction bans and government-backed rent assistance.

We reviewed the current state of eviction protections in D.C., Maryland and Virginia, as well as any public funds available to struggling renters. These resources, while not sufficient to meet the scale of the crisis, could be a lifeline for some residents as the status of any further relief remains uncertain.

District of Columbia

Evictions: No evictions are taking place in D.C. right now, and new eviction cases can’t be filed until December at the earliest. That’s for two reasons: 1) D.C. landlord-tenant court is under an eviction moratorium until Oct. 8, when the city’s state of emergency is scheduled to lift; and 2) the D.C. Council banned new eviction filings through the end of the emergency plus an additional 60 days. If the emergency declaration isn’t extended, new eviction proceedings could begin to ramp up in December. But evictions that were underway before the pandemic could proceed in October, and the court is hearing some of those older cases now.

Rental Assistance: There are a few pots of government money available to qualified D.C. renters: the Emergency Rental Assistance Program; the Tenant-Based Rental Assistance program; and the COVID-19 Housing Assistance Program (CHAP). All of these programs target low-income individuals.

Maryland

Evictions. Renters have partial protection from eviction in Maryland. An executive order from Gov. Larry Hogan provides a legal defense for tenants sued for nonpayment of rent or lease breaches during the state’s ongoing health emergency. But the order only goes so far.

Once eviction hearings resume on Aug. 31, tenants can be forced into court if they fall behind on rent. If tenants can’t (or don’t) show up to their hearing, if they lack adequate representation, or if they fail to demonstrate they lost income due to COVID-19, they can can still be evicted.

Landlords can also bypass the executive order by simply not renewing the leases of tenants who haven’t paid rent, then beginning the eviction process if tenants don’t vacate. (In D.C., a “just cause” eviction law prevents landlords from evicting tenants just because their lease has expired. Maryland does not have such a law.)

Rental Assistance: Some localities have created emergency rent assistance funds; Montgomery County, for instance, is actively soliciting applications for one of its new programs. Statewide, Hogan has allocated $10 million in rental assistance for residents of subsidized housing and $20 million for jurisdictions to fund their own programs. But advocates have urged the governor to dedicate millions more to keep Marylanders in their homes and prevent a homelessness crisis.

Virginia

Evictions: Virginia courts are under a statewide eviction moratorium until Sept. 7, but you’d be forgiven for not realizing it: Landlords continue to deliver “pay or quit” notices to renters, which starts the eviction process, and landlords are still filing new cases in court. Also, renters can still be evicted for things like violating their lease or committing illegal acts, because the moratorium makes an exception for cases not related to nonpayment.

Lawmakers in the commonwealth are now debating a bill that would extend the eviction moratorium until late April. That legislation could undergo significant revisions as it makes its way through the General Assembly, or it may not pass at all. If the ban expires in September, Gov. Ralph Northam could consider extending it via an executive order, or the state Supreme Court could choose to renew it again. If neither of these things happen, eviction hearings are expected to come roaring back in September.

Rental Assistance: The governor created a statewide rental assistance fund that harnessed $50 million in CARES Act money. But the program has been slow to roll out, and the assistance isn’t likely to reach every Virginian who needs it. As of late July, the program had helped fewer than 500 households. (Refer to the Affordability Desk’s previously published list of rental assistance funds for other resources.)

Nationally

Evictions: There is no national eviction moratorium in place right now. The last one—created under the CARES Act—expired July 25. (Also, that ban only applied to properties with federal financing or federally backed mortgages.) President Donald Trump issued an executive order that addresses evictions, but housing advocates say it’s virtually meaningless.

Rental Assistance: Nada. The federal government has supplied states with funds they can use for rental assistance, but as of now there is no federal rental assistance program to speak of.