Link | Publication: Matt Losak & Zafar Shah, Local Opinion, Washington Post | Date: Feb. 28, 2021
Excerpt
Maryland legislators have before them a “housing justice package” ready for enactment. These bills would halt evictions entirely during the pandemic, establish ongoing rental assistance funds, build out an eviction diversion program to reduce the annual toll of hundreds of thousands of damaging eviction judgments, give renters a right to a lawyer when facing eviction, require that landlords terminate leases only with just cause and raise court fees from among the lowest in the nation to ensure eviction filings are not frivolous or abusive.
Renters, now approaching 40 percent of state residents, know what’s at stake. They know what’s on the table. They are watching and waiting for bold action. Although temporary protections from eviction are helpful, they do little to change the underlying destabilization in Maryland’s housing economy.