Behind on Rent in Maine Public Housing? Received an Eviction Notice? What to Know — ProPublica

Folks dwelling in public housing throughout the nation have particular protections meant to forestall low-income tenants from being evicted once they fall behind on hire.

The consequence of an eviction from public housing for individuals in Maine is particularly difficult as a result of there are usually not sufficient inexpensive housing choices within the rural state, and people evicted usually tend to face homelessness. Maine public housing authorities file a disproportionately excessive share of eviction circumstances in contrast with all landlords within the state, in line with an analysis of court data obtained by the Bangor Each day Information and ProPublica.

If you happen to’re one among 1.6 million tenants dwelling in public housing nationally, together with 6,000 in Maine, listed here are some out there safeguards. The next will not be authorized recommendation.

Lease Aid Choices

If you happen to begin having bother paying your hire, there are alternatives out there to you earlier than you face eviction. You may ask for assist in the next methods:

Decreasing your hire. In public housing, your hire is often based mostly in your earnings. So in case your paycheck decreases, you may write to the housing authority to request what’s often known as an interim recertification to decrease your hire.

Pausing rental funds. If you happen to at present pay the minimal hire allowed at your housing authority and fall behind, you may request what’s referred to as a hardship exemption to pause your rental funds. It’s possible you’ll qualify if:

• You misplaced authorities help corresponding to meals stamps or Medicaid, or are ready to see if you will get it.
• You misplaced your job.
• A member of the family died and it impacts your family earnings.

You may as well ask in case your housing authority units different {qualifications} for a hardship exemption.

30-Day Discover

The eviction course of begins as quickly as you get a 30-day discover letter out of your housing authority. It may be referred to as a “termination” or “eviction” discover. The letter ought to inform you what you owe. If you happen to fail to start funds inside 30 days, the housing authority can carry an eviction case towards you in court docket. The discover doesn’t imply you must transfer out instantly.

• Public housing authorities have to offer you a 30-day discover, which is a new federal requirement as of January 2025.
• The discover should embrace directions on how one can replace your earnings with the housing authority and/or ask for a hardship exemption.
• It should present an itemized record of how a lot again hire you owe, damaged down by month. The record may additionally embrace any penalties for lease violations or different charges you owe for upkeep, utilities or different providers.
• It additionally has to say how one can swap from flat hire to income-based hire. (Flat hire is predicated on what the federal authorities considers a good hire in your space, and income-based hire is predicated on how a lot you earn.)
• The discover should share details about the housing authority’s grievance course of, which lets you formally dispute the eviction earlier than it reaches court docket.

The Grievance Process

After receiving the 30-day discover, you may attempt to keep away from eviction by requesting an off-the-cuff assembly along with your public housing authority, which is step one within the grievance course of. It’s smart to make this request in writing by the deadline in your eviction discover. On this assembly, you should have the prospect to speak over your case and see what choices may be out there to keep away from eviction, corresponding to agreeing to a reimbursement plan (extra on these beneath).

If that doesn’t work, you may request a proper grievance listening to to attempt to forestall your eviction from going to court docket. It’s higher to do that in writing, too.

Forward of the listening to, you may request:

• Paperwork in your tenant file.
• The housing authority’s Admissions and Continued Occupancy Coverage, which explains intimately the housing authority’s guidelines, together with how the grievance listening to ought to unfold.

On the listening to you have got the suitable to:

• Have a lawyer current.
• Current your personal proof and query proof provided by the housing authority.
• Name witnesses to assist your case and query any witnesses referred to as by the housing authority.

The listening to is determined by an arbiter or panel. If you happen to win the grievance, the housing authority can not file the eviction case towards you in court docket. If you happen to lose, the case heads to eviction court docket.

Reimbursement Settlement

The federal government encourages housing authorities to enter into reimbursement agreements with tenants who’re behind on hire with a view to forestall evictions from public housing. Such an settlement, which housing authorities are usually not required to supply, is a legally binding contract that outlines how lengthy you must repay your debt. You may ask your housing authority if that is an choice.

Regardless of federal steering to supply reimbursement agreements outdoors of court docket, public housing authorities generally will take you to court docket earlier than providing one. If you happen to decline the settlement, you could possibly be evicted following the court docket listening to.

What to find out about in-court agreements:

• Signing a reimbursement settlement in court docket can put an eviction in your everlasting document, even when you meet all of the settlement’s necessities. This vital reality may not even be talked about within the settlement, so it’s value asking.
• Housing authorities can ask you to conform to be evicted instantly when you fail to abide by the phrases of the settlement, corresponding to making funds on time.
• A reimbursement settlement reached in court docket can require you to comply with all housing authority guidelines — corresponding to these prohibiting smoking, requiring you to take down vacation decorations or shovel your driveway — or face a direct eviction.

Pay cap. The federal authorities encourages — however doesn’t require — housing authorities to create reimbursement plans that don’t make you pay greater than 40% of your month-to-month earnings (bearing in mind your common month-to-month hire and extra cost to cowl again hire).

Timeframes differ. Each housing authority has its personal guidelines about how lengthy a reimbursement settlement can final.

Eviction Courtroom

If you happen to lose the grievance course of, are usually not provided a reimbursement settlement or fail to uphold your finish of a reimbursement settlement reached outdoors of court docket, the housing authority will doubtless file an eviction case in court docket. Analysis your native eviction court docket course of as a result of eviction guidelines can differ by state or municipality.

In Maine, right here’s what to anticipate on the courthouse:

• Like most states, Maine doesn’t give you an lawyer in eviction court docket. However you continue to have the choice to rent your personal lawyer. There are several organizations in Maine that present free or reduced-cost authorized providers and attorneys to individuals with low incomes.
  • Pine Tree Authorized Help
  • Incapacity Rights Maine
  • Authorized Providers for Maine Elders
  • Volunteer Legal professionals Mission
• You should not have to reply to the general public housing authority’s eviction grievance forward of the listening to, however you do want to point out up in court docket. If you happen to don’t seem on the listening to, the choose will routinely rule towards you. This implies you may be evicted.
• When you’re in court docket, there is not going to be a jury. Eviction court docket is often crowded, and the method strikes shortly.
  • The choose will name your case and sometimes will ask when you, the tenant, wish to attempt to attain an settlement with the housing authority’s lawyer.
  • If you happen to don’t attain an settlement, the choose will evaluate the proof introduced by the housing authority and any protection you could have shortly earlier than making a ruling.
  • Maine courts additionally allow you to resolve eviction circumstances by means of mediation on the identical day as your listening to. This casual course of occurs on the courthouse. It offers you a chance to talk with the housing authority and is directed by an impartial mediator. Mediators don’t have any energy to resolve a case; their job is simply that can assist you and the housing authority discover a compromise.