Hundreds of renters in Allegheny County, PA, being evicted despite CDC order promising protection

A Centers for Disease Control order is supposed to protect tenants who cannot afford to pay rent from being evicted during the pandemic. But Action News Investigates has learned hundreds of tenants are still facing eviction in Allegheny County, despite the rule.

Jeffrey Thorne said he signed a CDC declaration and gave it to his landlord, so he thought he did not have to worry about being evicted from a house in Penn Hills. But it did not work out that way. Thorne said he was shocked to see sheriff's deputies at his door in September. He recorded them on his phone.

"I was really surprised, but I was a little scared too, because there were a lot of them out there on the lawn," Thorne said. He showed them the CDC declaration he had given his landlord several weeks earlier, saying he was unable to pay his rent. "And I do have proof of me giving him this declaration form," Thorne told deputies, referring to a video that shows him placing the signed declaration in his landlord's mailbox.

That should have been enough to keep Thorne in his home, according to attorney Eileen Yacknin of Neighborhood Legal Services, who represents tenants in eviction cases. Action News Investigates showed her documents from Thorne's case. Because his landlord sued Thorne for nonpayment of rent, Yacknin said the CDC declaration should protect him from eviction.

"The landlord is obligated to honor that and not evict the tenant, not take any action to evict the tenant until after January 1st," Yacknin said.

Action News Investigates asked Thorne's landlord, Oren Solomon, if he had seen the CDC declaration. "If it's not a bill I don't pay attention to it," Solomon said, adding: "I didn't evict him. The sheriff evicted him."

In the end, deputies forced Thorne to leave his home.

https://www.wtae.com/article/hundreds-of-renters-in-allegheny-county-being-evicted-despite-cdc-order-promising-protection/34646761