LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The COVID-19 pandemic impacted people in countless ways.
On Wednesday, Arkansas Community Organizations released new information detailing how Arkansans still feel the effects years later.
Since 2018, Arkansas Renters United, a group that’s part of Arkansas Community Organization, has been working to ensure renters statewide have their voices heard.
“It's heartbreaking," Arkansas Community Organizations member Valencia White said. "We don't have rights."
Advocates with the group said evictions have been a big problem.
“Close to 800 evictions a month," White said. "That's outrageous."
They've been tracking how many evictions have happened in the last two years. According to their findings, many renters in 2019 used more than 30% of their income to pay their rent.
However, that became harder to maintain once the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
“People losing work or having their hours cut with difficulty accessing unemployment benefits,” Arkansas Community Organizations member Neil Sealy said.
While courts were able to delay evictions in some cases, advocates said too many are still happening.
“From January 2 through August 31, the average number of evictions per month is 744,” Sealy said.
Sealy said a big part of the problem is people couldn’t challenge their cases.
“Most tenants don't have legal representation," Sealy said. "Most tenants do not know about the five-day window."
On top of that, the group said the state's eviction laws are some of the least forgiving in the country.
“We want the eviction laws to change,” Sealy said. “Some people are being jailed and fined for failure to appear, failure to pay... We've seen judges issue no contact orders between a tenant because, under failure to vacate, you can't expel the tenant."
They hope that continuing to provide what they find will help create change.
“As long as we are living and can move, we're going to keep fighting,” White said.