Dismissal of Overdue Rent Cases Celebrated by Housing Advocates in Maryland

The appeal of the Housing Authority of Baltimore City to dismiss cases of overdue rent has succeeded. However, HABC Executive Director states that after receiving funds, the tenants unfortunately stopped paying rent.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, several tenants were not able to pay rent for months, if not years. Furthermore, most of the financial assistance allocated for them had been exhausted. Nonetheless, the advocates in the Housing Authority of Baltimore City (HABC) fought for almost 200 public housing tenants outside the Baltimore District Court on East Fayette Street who had overdue rent.

However, according to Miller, although the HABC’s appeal to dismiss the overdue rent cases had succeeded, Executive Director Janet Abrahams states that all cases will be refiled due to a technicality on the notice.

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Dismissal of Overdue Rent Cases

According to Hager, the HABC filed paperwork for over a thousand tenants to be able to receive emergency funds that totaled to $3 million for their overdue rent. However, after doing so, Abrahams stated that the tenants unfortunately stopped paying rent altogether.

Reports say, to date, the HABC has around $4 million in outstanding payment which leaves them no choice. This means that the HABC has to either collect the overdue rent or to evict tenants. By doing the latter, HABC will reportedly open its door to 9,000 other residents on the waiting list for public housing and 14,000 others in line for Section 8 vouchers.

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