The program has surged in demand amid a troubling cocktail of economic conditions for renters.

About one in every 57 renter households in Northern Virginia faced an eviction filing between January and March of this year.

Evictions in the D.C. region are at their highest level since the pandemic began, thanks to rising rents and the expiration of COVID protections.

The Landlord-Tenant Legal Assistance Network (LTLAN) provides free representation to low-income DC residents facing eviction. In their first two years they’ve received over 3,000 calls.

The federal funds supporting the program are close to running out.

The funding comes after the city’s STAY DC rental assistance program ran out of funding in 2021, and renters face losing eviction protections in 2022.

The sudden announcement arrives as eviction restrictions fade away in D.C., prompting alarm on social media.

Officials attributed the drop in evictions to new prevention efforts and millions of dollars in rent assistance.

Hundreds of evictions are scheduled in D.C., and D.C. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson says Mayor Muriel Bowser hasn’t done enough to stop them.

Landlords have sought to whittle down the eviction moratorium to pressure tenants to apply for federal rental assistance.