Pandemic eviction crisis leads to greater tenant protections

The threat of widespread evictions during the coronavirus pandemic has inspired reforms to a U.S. system that has in the past offered few protections for tenants

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- In a mostly empty conference room at a Virginia cultural arts center, Tara Simmons was looking for someone who might help her stave off eviction. Simmons, a 44-year-old home health aide who lives with her two children and two grandchildren, was only a month behind on her rent. But that didn't stop her landlord from ordering her out of the house by Saturday, when the federal eviction moratorium ended. Already enduring health problems, Simmons said she feared she would be out on the street. “I’ve been in my house for four years now. And two months before my lease was up, I get an email saying that they weren’t renewing my lease,” said Simmons of Newport News, Virginia. “That’s it. No explanation why or whatever."