Eviction ban's end will allow pandemic lockouts to resume

PHOENIX (AP) — Tenant advocates and court officials were gearing up Friday for what some fear will be a wave of evictions and others predict will be just a growing trickle after a U.S. Supreme Court action allowing lockouts to resume.

The high court's conservative majority late Thursday blocked the Biden administration from enforcing a temporary ban placed because of the coronavirus pandemic. The action ends protections for about 3.5 million people in the United States who say they faced eviction in the next two months, according to U.S. Census Bureau data from early August.

“We are incredibly disappointed in the Supreme Court ruling and ask Congress and Governor (Doug) Ducey to take action to prevent what will likely be tragic outcomes for thousands of Arizona families,” said Cynthia Zwick, executive director of the nonprofit organization Wildfire that is helping distribute government rental assistance in Arizona.

“Lives are literally at risk as the pandemic continues to surge and families lose their homes, especially during this time of extreme heat,” she said, referring to Phoenix's triple-digit temperatures.

Wildfire is encouraging tenants to keep applying for rental aid and “work with their landlords to develop plans for making payments until the assistance is available,” she said.

But some local officials around the U.S. say the court's action is unlikely to set off the flood of evictions some advocates predict.

Scott Davis, spokesman for the Maricopa County Justice Courts that handle the bulk of Arizona's evictions, said he does not expect anything overly dramatic overnight. He said how things play out will depend on how landlords and their attorneys decide to handle cases and that the courts were well prepared for whatever happens.

“We know that eviction case...