ORLANDO, Fla. — The Heart of Florida United Way’s 211 helpline has fielded 21,000 calls from people worried about being evicted from their homes since June of last year, according to Ray Larsen, the organization’s vice president of community engagement.

“The calls specifically around evictions and needs for utility assistance are still very much elevated,” Larsen said.

Responding to that large demand for assistance, HFUW moved this week to invest $150,000 into three local aid groups in Orange, Osceola, and Seminole counties that have been helping low-income people throughout the pandemic. The money is specifically meant to fund legal assistance and representation for individuals and families facing an eviction because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Anybody that's facing this eviction, we wanted to make sure that they had the opportunity to speak to a lawyer, to understand their rights,” Larsen said. 

“We also wanted to make sure that if they’re eligible for other benefits like SNAP and those sort of things, that we looked at that. And then certainly if they needed representation either in court or otherwise, that they had the opportunity to have an attorney with them,” Larsen said. 

Funds will be shared between the Legal Aid Society of the Orange County Bar Association, Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida in Osceola County, and the Seminole County Bar Association Legal Aid Society. 

The money is targeted to support Central Florida residents who fit the definition of ALICE, an acronym created by the United Way that stands for “Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed.”

ALICE refers to “hardworking people one paycheck away from financial ruin,” according to HFUW’s website.

Orange County eviction filings fell almost 40% in 2020 from 2019, likely the result of various state and federal eviction moratoriums created during the pandemic. However, despite the national eviction moratorium still currently in effect, many evictions are still moving forward, in Central Florida and across the country. 

Local courts have struggled to consistently interpret the national eviction moratorium and inform residents of how to seek protection under it, Spectrum News found. The confusion and uncertainty about the future has left some lawmakers and industry players wondering whether aspects of U.S. housing policy need to fundamentally change. 

“Eviction is not good for anybody. It's not good for the tenant and it's not good for the landlord,” Larsen said. “So there's lots of reasons to try to avoid eviction, if possible. (What) we wanted to make sure was that everybody had the opportunity, if they were facing this, to know what their options were, at least.”

Molly Duerig is a Report for America corps member who is covering affordable housing for Spectrum News 13. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.