ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — With Florida's eviction moratorium scheduled to expire Thursday without another extension by Governor Ron DeSantis, housing experts are urging eligible renters who are in danger of being evicted to move to try to prevent it under the terms of the Centers for Disease Control's eviction ban.

The CDC program was designed to help people like Veronica Lucha and her family. Lucha, 52, was laid off from her job, her husband was diagnosed with COVID-19, and they were served an eviction notice. 

With her husband out of work for 45 days to recover, she said they turned to paying for rent with credit cards and accumulated more than $6,000 in debt. 

They were not the only family with these problems. The unemployment rate for Hispanics was almost 19 percent in April, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. As a result, many families struggled to pay rent, and the Orange County Clerk’s Office reports about 500 eviction notices were served. 

Florida’s eviction moratorium during the COVID-19 pandemic has kept many of them in their homes so far, but it is set to expire Thursday, October 1 unless DeSantis extends it at the last minute again.

State Rep. Anna Eskamani (D-Orlando) sent a letter to DeSantis, urging him to extend the state's ban again. She said she is concerned he will "lean on the federal order, which is being challenged in court."

The governor's office hasn't responded to Spectrum News 13’s inquiry about whether he will extend the order.

Camilo Parra, Orange County Legal Aid Society housing attorney, said the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) moratorium would help a lot of renters — but only if they take action. 

“As long as the people are made aware of their protections under the CDC moratorium, hopefully, it won’t be too much of an impact,” Parra said. "[But it’s not automatic.] There’s a declaration you got to read, you got to sign it, and give it to your landlord. Until you do that, you won’t be covered by its protections.”

He said there is an added challenge for the Hispanic community, a language barrier.

“A lot of them have been misinformed,” Parra said.  “A lot of them don’t have much of a relationship with their landlords because of language barriers so there’s miscommunications.”

That was the case with Lucha.

“My landlord only speaks English, and he never told me about any help available to me,” Lucha said. “I found that information myself online.”

Parra said anyone struggling with rent should call Legal Aid Society at 407-841-8310 for housing assistance.