Atlanta mayor calls on temporary halt on evictions during coronavirus outbreak
ATLANTA - Atlanta's mayor has issued an executive order calling for a temporary halt on residential evictions and filings for 60 days.
(Marcus Ingram/Getty Images for City Of Hope)
On Tuesday, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms issued an order that called on the Atlanta Housing Authority, Atlanta Beltline Inc., Fulton County/City of Atlanta Land Bank Authority, Invest Atlanta, Partners for Home, and the City of Atlanta’s Department of Grants and Community Development to institute a temporary moratorium effective immediately.
The order instructs those involved to not allow any issuance of termination or eviction for the non-payment of rent and to not allow any late fees or other charges because of late or non-payment of rent for those 60 days in any property either sponsored or funded by any of the above organizations.
“Social distancing, home confinement, and self-quarantines are critical in the fight to stop the spread of COVID-19,” Bottoms said in a statement. “The ability for Atlanta residents to remain in their homes is a key component of our collective community efforts to prevent further exposure and spread of this virus. As Mayor, I am calling on our partners to bolster our collective efforts and ensure housing stability for residents.”
The mayor also issued an executive order creating an emergency fund of up to $7 million to help assist Atlantans impacted by the coronavirus.
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The order allows the Chief Financial Officers to allocate up to the above amount from uncommitted general funds to emergency assistance including:
- $1 million to provide emergency assistance to child food programs
- $1 million to provide emergency assistance to senior food programs
- $1 million to provide emergency assistance to homeless preparedness
- $1.5 million to support small business continuity
- $1 million for the purchase of technology to support the City’s full telework deployment
- $1.5 million to assist hourly wage earners of businesses engaged with the City of Atlanta.
“Our communities are in need of help and we are listening,” Bottoms said. “This is one step to provide relief and we are going to continue to look for opportunities to help those in need as we go through this together.”
These two executive orders come after Bottoms ordered a ban of all public gatherings and events of over 50 people within the city.
The mayor has also ordered Watershed Management to refrain from terminating any water services from customers because of non-payment for 60 days.
As of Tuesday, Fulton County has the greatest number of confirmed coronavirus cases with 33 cases in the county. DeKalb County has the third most, with 15 cases.