Section 8 Mom, 4 Kids May Face Illegal Foreclosure Eviction

In West Palm Beach, Florida, WPEC-TV Channel 12 reports:

• It's a dire situation more and more renters are facing--losing your rental home to foreclosure. But for one West Palm Beach mother--her future looms. "If I'm not out early Friday morning than they are just going to come in and throw my stuff out," said renter Barbara Wright.

• Yesterday when Wright opened her door she found a 48-hour eviction notice in the hands of deputies. The single mother of four is a section 8 housing tenant(1) who has rented the same house for more than five years. But last year her landlord could no longer pay the mortgage.The home went into foreclosure, now she is desperately looking for a new place to live. "I'm trying to pull a miracle out of a hat," said Wright. Meanwhile her four kids have no idea they may be homeless Friday morning.

For the story, see Single Mother and Children Losing Rental Home to Foreclosure.

(1) According to a 2007 Boston Herald story, Section 8 tenants renting homes in foreclosure have rights under federal law that prevent them from getting kicked out of a home merely because of a change in ownership, including a foreclosure:

• Chris Norris, executive director of [Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, a nonprofit group that administers Section 8 housing programs for the federal government], and legal experts say Section 8 tenants have their rights - and can fight eviction attempts by new building owners snapping up properties at auctions. Under federal law, Section 8 tenants with proper leases can’t be immediately tossed out of their units because of a change in ownership, experts say.

• “Federal laws trump state laws, so (Section 8 tenants) can stay,” said Rafael Mares, an attorney at Harvard Law School’s WilmerHale Legal Services, which is helping tenants during the current foreclosure crisis. Even if a tenant’s Section 8 lease has expired, federal law requires that property owners must prove they’re being economically harmed by having a tenant remain in a building, said Mares. Non-Section 8 renters, who have also been hard hit by the foreclosure crisis, also have rights that require court approval before an eviction can take place, Mares said. But Section 8 tenants are better protected, he said. [...] But many Section 8 tenants panic and don’t fight eviction notices, not realizing they have rights, said Mares.

It may be that a lack of affordable legal counsel knowledgeable in Section 8 tenant issues may result in this family being illegally bounced out of their home. For the specific federal regulation on this point, see 24 CFR 982.310(d)(1). Go here for the regulations (24 CFR 982) regulating the Section 8 rent subsidy program, generally.