A workshop on tenant and landlord rights will take place at the University Area Community Center Sept. 17. The event is free. Photo from University Area Community Development Corp.
More than 27,000 households in Hillsborough County face eviction because they owe back rent as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of employment.
And the federal stay on evictions expires at the end of September.
“People are so close to homelessness, it’s scary,” said Sarah Combs, CEO of the University Area Community Development Corp. in Tampa. Her agency has teamed up with Bay Area Legal Services to offer Landlord/Tenant Rights Community Training, paid for by United Way Suncoast.
The hour-long workshop takes place at 2 p.m. Sept. 17 at the University Area Community Center, 14013 N 22nd Street, Tampa. The workshop is free.
“We knew moratorium was going to be lifted at some point,” Combs said. “And we know people are not understanding their rights. It was important to us to launch this training and get ahead of it. Thankfully, we were able to do that. It’s really education for tenants and for the landlords to help them understand what the expiration means and what their rights are.”
Already, the University Area CDC has been able to help some people by directing them to Bay Area Legal Services. “The piece that’s been really great is hearing the success stories,” Combs said. “We’ve been able to get a few individuals that came forward to tell us how this was helping.”
There is a lot of financial assistance available and one of the keys to this training is letting people know how to access it. Federal funds are already being distributed here, Combs said, but there are also nonprofits stepping up to fill voids.
Learn more on the UACDC website.
