LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a nationwide moratorium on evictions from now until the end of the year, but renters aren't automatically protected.

The CDC's effort to clamp down on homelessness during the pandemic and into the flu-season months will help some renters, but experts say Arkansas has a dismal record when it comes to renter's rights and rental assistance.

Lynn Foster, emeritus professor of law for the William H. Bowen School of Law at the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, said renters have fewer rights in Arkansas than in any other state.

She said the most commonly used eviction procedure for nonpayment of rent is called an unlawful detainer. Under the provision, a tenant has five days to respond to the court order and must pay the owed rent amount in full.

"And in order to have a hearing before the court, they have to find the money that they couldn't pay in the first place and file it with the court," Foster explained. "To my knowledge, we're the only state that has a law like that, and it's clearly designed just to push tenants out as quickly and easily as possible for the landlord."

Foster said the CDC moratorium only applies to tenants who have signed the agency's declaration form and delivered it to their landlord.

Residents can find a copy of the form on the Arkansas Legal Services website.

For assistance, call 501-376-3423 if you live in central, southern and western Arkansas, or 1-800-952-9243 if you live in northwest or north central Arkansas.

Neil Sealy, executive director for Arkansas Renters United and Arkansas Community Organizations, said he worries about so-called "self-help" evictions occurring across the state, despite the CDC moratorium.

He said they often go unreported.

"But it's illegal, and that's when the landlord could cut off utilities and change the locks and force a tenant out, without going through the eviction process," Sealy said.

Foster said the CDC order does not relieve tenants of the obligation to pay rent owed or any late fees or other penalties.

When the moratorium expires on Dec. 31, she fears thousands of renters will ring in the new year owing large sums of money they don't have, with little help available.

"Our rent-assistance program leaves much to be desired," Foster said. "I have looked and looked for some kind of a mass list where a tenant could go to see where they can even apply for rent assistance. I don't think there is one. I haven't found one."

At least 36 states have established a statewide emergency fund to assist renters.

According to Census survey data, around 27% of Arkansas renters who live in households with children said they have no or little confidence they can pay next month's rent.


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A new design competition is looking to find better housing for Fargo's aging population.

Like many other states, North Dakota has a growing number of people increasingly burdened by their own homes. Oftentimes, they want to stay in their communities but their properties might be too large, too expensive to maintain or too unsafe to occupy.

Janelle Moos, associate state director of advocacy for AARP North Dakota, said there are not enough options for people looking to downsize.

"A lot of housing and zoning has really promoted single family homes or very large scale apartments," Moos explained. "We've kind of lost that middle ground to say, 'There are other types of housing that exist and can coexist and what people want, right?'"

AARP is asking interested architects, designers, builders and students to submit designs for those midlevel units, including a duplex, triplex or cluster subdivision. Moos pointed out the goal is to show off the viability of age-friendly homes and hopefully come away with some plans for future development.

More than 65% of North Dakota residents named housing as the state's biggest overall need in a survey last year.

The competition closes in early October and the winner is eligible for a cash prize. Moos noted people can then hire the designer, obtain a building permit and begin construction.

"The hope is that it's not just a conversation and it's not just a hypothetical," Moos emphasized. "We want to come away with several really viable, buildable, missing middle housing plans with universal divine design elements. So, by that I mean truly age-friendly."

Judges and advisers include government officials, design experts and architects from across the state. Nationwide, one group estimates a need for more than 800,000 senior housing units by 2030.

With rising housing costs an ongoing issue, a new report shows how fast rents have increased in Maryland and nationwide.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition's "Out of Reach" report shows that, even when accounting for higher state- and county-level minimum wages, the average minimum-wage worker in the United States would have to work 95 hours a week to afford a one-bedroom rental home.

Diane Yentel, coalition president and CEO, noted renters with the lowest incomes have faced a long-standing trend of rents rising faster than wages.

"Between 2001 and 2021, rents increased about 18%," she explained, "while household income only increased by about 3%."

In Maryland, the report found the fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment is more than $1,900 a month, which translates to a Housing Wage of nearly $37 an hour, the ninth-highest in the nation.

The coalition said affordable rental housing isn't likely to be built without public subsidies. The availability of affordable housing is constrained in part by the high development and operating cost of new rental housing, resulting in market forces that drive developers to target higher-end customers.

The report shows the median monthly rent for new multifamily units in the third quarter of last year was more than $1,800 a month, while just 2% of new units had rents less than $850 per month.

As supply constraints drive costs higher, Yentel predicted the nation's housing crisis will worsen.

"Increased rents are resulting in increased homelessness," she insisted. "The U.S. Government Accountability Office has found that a $100 increase in median monthly rent is associated with a 9% increase in homelessness in that community."

For its part, the federal government's ability to build new housing has been limited since 1999, when the Faircloth Amendment capped the number of public housing units that can be legally owned by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD).




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Backers of President Joe Biden's rent cap proposal said it could benefit many New Yorkers.

The plan calls for capping rent increases at 5% in apartments owned by corporate landlords, or those landlords risk losing federal tax breaks. It comes as statewide rents are rapidly increasing. As of this month, New York City rents are 147% higher than the national average.

Cea Weaver, campaign coordinator for the group Housing Justice For All, said capping rents could greatly benefit New Yorkers struggling with housing costs.

"Many New Yorkers are already benefiting from stronger protections than what Biden has called for," Weaver acknowledged. "But for places that haven't opted into rent stabilization, which is many, in upstate New York especially, this would be hugely important, since half the state rents an unregulated apartment and this is potentially a lifeline."

The rent cap plan will require approval from Congress. It includes the Department of Housing and Urban Development investing $325 million nationwide in "Choice Neighborhood" grants, to support building affordable homes across the country.

Syracuse received $50 million from the program to build 1,400 affordable units. It comes as 31,000 households in Onondaga County spend more than one-third of their income on housing.

Beyond Biden's plan, New York's own good cause eviction protections passed earlier this year can help tenants. Since becoming law in May, four cities have opted in to the program. Though some housing advocates were against making it optional, Weaver noted the protections it offers reverberate in cities taking advantage of it.

"Right now, tenants in New York State have the right to renew their lease unless their landlord has a good reason to deny a lease renewal," Weaver explained. "The statutory protection is to remain in their home. And there's a nix on rent increases if you're rent-stabilized; it depends on what your local rent board voted for."

She notes cities adopting good cause eviction protections are also protecting tenants from almost 9% rent increases. Rochester and some Hudson Valley cities are considering opting in to these protections.


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