沒有工作，沒有錢，租金到期看看疫情期間美國租戶是怎麼過的吧

Kendra Tallant, 41, her fiance, BJ Shepherd, 35, and her son Jonathyn Murray, 23, outside of their apartment complex in Colorado Springs. (Benjamin Rasmussen / for NBC News)

41歲的肯德拉·塔倫特和她的未婚夫，35歲的BJ·謝潑德，以及她23歲的兒子喬納森·默裡，在他們位於科羅拉多斯普林斯的公寓外。(本傑明·拉斯穆森/ NBC新聞)

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Unlike more than 30 other states, Colorado does not have a statewide moratorium on evictions during the coronavirus outbreak. Instead, Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, has issued guidance to limit evictions, requesting that landlords work with tenants on payment plans and waive late fees — but he has not required them to do so.

與其他30多個州不同的是，在冠狀病毒爆發期間，科羅拉多州並沒有在全州範圍內暫停驅逐。相反，民主黨人、州長賈裡德·波利斯(Jared Polis)已經發布了限制驅逐的指導意見，要求房東與租戶一起制定付款計劃，並免除滯納金——但他並沒有要求他們這樣做。

Decisions on evictions have been left to courts and local governments, creating a patchwork of policies throughout the state, legal experts say. While law enforcement is not delivering eviction notices during Colorado’s state of emergency, and many district judges and cities have suspended eviction proceedings, others are still allowing cases to be filed, but delaying hearings. Attorneys say at least one jurisdiction, Montrose County, has held teleconference eviction hearings.

法律專家說，有關拆遷的決定已經交給了法院和地方政府，在全州範圍內形成了一套拼湊而成的政策。雖然執法部門在科羅拉多州的緊急狀態期間沒有發出驅逐通知，許多地區法官和城市已經暫停了驅逐程序，但其他地方仍然允許提起訴訟，只是推遲了聽證會。律師說，至少有一個司法管轄區，蒙特羅斯縣，已經舉行了電話會議驅逐聽證會。

The uncertainty has left thousands of Colorado renters confused and fearing they’ll be evicted when courts resume operations and law enforcement agencies begin delivering notices, legal and housing policy advocates say.

法律和住房政策倡導者說，這種不確定性讓科羅拉多州成千上萬的租房者感到困惑，他們擔心一旦法院恢復運作，執法機構開始發出通知，他們就會被趕出去。

Full coverage of the coronavirus outbreak 全面報道冠狀病毒爆發

Colorado earned a spot fourth from the bottom on a scorecard released Monday that evaluated the eviction policies of each state amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The scorecard, developed by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab and Columbia Law School, gave Colorado zero out of five stars.

科羅拉多州在週一發佈的一份記分卡上排名倒數第四，記分卡評估了科羅拉多州在19日爆發的流感大流行期間各州的驅逐政策。由普林斯頓大學驅逐實驗室和哥倫比亞大學法學院共同開發的記分卡，給科羅拉多州打了0分(滿分5分)。

“Without statewide action and supportive measures to address rental debt, Colorado could see a surge of evictions during and immediately following the pandemic,” the report stated.

報告說:“如果不採取全州範圍內的行動和支持性措施來解決租賃債務問題，科羅拉多州可能會在流感大流行期間和之後立即出現驅逐現象。”

In apartment complexes across the state, tenants have begun organizing to push their landlords to offer payment plans or waive late fees. Tenants are also mobilizing online: The Colorado Rent Strike and Eviction Defense Facebook group, which has more than 4,000 members, is planning a rent strike April 30 and is encouraging participants to post signs on their doors and windows.

在全州的公寓樓裡，租戶們已經開始組織起來，要求房東提供付款計劃或免除滯納金。租戶們也在網上動員起來:擁有4000多名成員的“科羅拉多房租罷工和驅逐保護”Facebook小組計劃在4月30日舉行一次房租罷工，並鼓勵參與者在他們的門窗上貼上告示。

“I think a statewide moratorium on evictions would go a really long way in relieving anxiety for many Coloradan families,” said Zach Neumann, a Colorado attorney who started the COVID-19 Eviction Defense Project, a group of about 50 volunteer attorneys. A halt on evictions would give renters time to negotiate agreements with their landlords while they are waiting to receive unemployment insurance or federal stimulus checks, he said.

“我認為，全州暫停驅逐對許多科羅拉多家庭來說，將大有幫助，”科羅拉多州律師扎克·諾伊曼(Zach Neumann)說。他發起了“covid19驅逐保護項目”(covid19 - Eviction Defense Project)，該項目由大約50名志願律師組成。他說，暫停拆遷將使租房者在等待領取失業保險或聯邦經濟刺激支票期間有時間與房東談判達成協議。

Within days of posting a Facebook message offering legal advice last month, Neumann said, he received more than 500 messages. “It is deeply inconsistent to tell people they are not allowed to work, but then rental payments are still expected to be paid on time,” he said.

諾伊曼說，上個月他在Facebook上發佈了一條提供法律建議的消息，幾天之內就收到了500多條信息。他說:“告訴人們不允許他們工作是非常不一致的，但租金仍有望按時支付。”

Polis has allocated $3 million toward emergency rental assistance, but lawyers and advocates say it won’t be enough to meet the need. An analysis by Neumann’s group, based on eviction filings and unemployment data, found that without more interventions, almost 500,000 Coloradans could face eviction in the coming months.

波利斯已撥出300萬美元用於緊急租賃援助，但律師和倡導者說，這將不足以滿足需求。Neumann的研究小組根據拆遷申請和失業數據進行的分析發現，如果不採取更多幹預措施，近50萬科羅拉多州人可能在未來幾個月面臨被驅逐。

Polis’ office did not respond to a request for comment.

波利斯的辦公室沒有回覆記者的置評請求。

In response to a Denver City Council proclamation last week calling on the governor to cancel rent and mortgage payments for struggling residents, aspokesperson for Polis said that he does “not have legal ability to suspend rent or evictions outright, as these are private contracts between individuals and institutions and suspending the sanctity of contract is not within the emergency powers of any governor or president."

在回答丹佛市議會上週宣言呼籲取消房租和房貸的州長苦苦掙扎的居民,城邦的發言人說,他“沒有法律能力完全停止出租或驅逐,這些個人和機構之間的私人合同,中止合同的神聖性不是在任何州長和總統的緊急權力。”

‘The state still needs to step in’

國家仍然需要介入

When Tallant realized that she wouldn’t be able to pay her rent for April, she wrote to the managers at the Residences at Falcon North, explaining her family’s job losses and asking if they could work out a partial payment plan and waive late fees.

當塔倫特意識到自己無法支付4月份的房租時，她寫信給獵鷹北方公寓的管理人員，向他們解釋了自己家人失業的原因，並詢問他們能否制定出一份部分還款計劃，並免除滯納金。

But after more than a dozen emails and several phone calls, the management had only agreed to waive the late fees if she paid her April rent in full. On April 6, Tallant received a 10-day demand letter — notices landlords must issue before they can legally begin an eviction — posted to her door, saying that she needed to pay her rent or leave the apartment.

但在發了十幾封郵件、打了幾個電話之後，管理部門才同意，如果她全額支付了4月份的房租，就免收滯納金。4月6日，塔拉特收到了一封10天的催款信——房東在合法開始驅逐之前必須發出的通知——貼在她的門上，說她需要付房租或離開公寓。

The 10-day demand letter that was posted on the door of Kendra Tallant's apartment. (Benjamin Rasmussen / for NBC News)

肯德拉·塔蘭特公寓門上張貼的10天催款信。(本傑明·拉斯穆森/ NBC新聞)

“Even if we find a way to pay for April, I have no idea what we’ll do for May,” Tallant said last Wednesday. By that point, including late fees, her April rent had risen to $2,047.

“即使我們能找到支付4月份費用的方法，我也不知道5月份我們要做什麼，”塔林特上週三表示。包括滯納金在內，她4月份的房租已經漲到了2047美元。

Even though the Fourth Judicial District court, which includes Colorado Springs, is not accepting any new eviction filings until May 18, Tallant worried that when court proceedings resume, she and her family could be forced out of their apartment.

儘管包括科羅拉多斯普林斯在內的第四司法地區法院在5月18日之前不會接受任何新的驅逐申請，但塔拉特擔心，一旦法院恢復審理，她和她的家人可能會被趕出他們的公寓。

Then, on Monday night, she received a message that brought her some relief: She had previously reached out to Neumann, the attorney, for help, and he had discovered in a database compiled by the National Low Income Housing Coalition that her apartment complex’s mortgage was backed by the federal government.

然後，在週一晚上，她收到了一條消息，這讓她鬆了一口氣:她之前曾向律師諾伊曼(Neumann)尋求幫助，他在國家低收入住房聯盟(National Low Income Housing Coalition)編制的數據庫中發現，她公寓的抵押貸款得到了聯邦政府的支持。

Under a federal relief law, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security, or CARES, Act, that meant that not only was she protected from eviction until July 25, but also that her apartment management could not charge her late fees.

根據一項聯邦救濟法，即《冠狀病毒援助、救濟和經濟安全法案》(Coronavirus Aid, relief and Economic Security，簡稱CARES)，這意味著，在7月25日之前，她不僅可以免於被驅逐，而且她的公寓管理部門也不能向她收取滯納金。

The management from Residences at Falcon North and JRK Property Holdings, the Los Angeles-based company that owns the complex, did not return requests for comment. The company owns 32,000 multifamily units and luxury hotels across 20 states, according to its website.

獵鷹北方(Falcon North)和JRK地產控股(JRK Property Holdings)的管理層沒有回覆記者的置評請求。據其網站顯示，該公司在美國20個州擁有3.2萬套多戶公寓和豪華酒店。

“I’m still angry, because how would I ever have known that as just a regular person, and I’ve been sitting here worried for weeks,” Tallant said. “The state still needs to step in and do more, too, because not everyone is going to fall under those circumstances.”

“我仍然很生氣，因為我怎麼可能知道這只是一個普通人，我已經在這裡擔心了幾個星期了，”塔倫特說。“政府仍需要介入，並採取更多行動，因為在這種情況下，不是每個人都會倒下。”

Even before the pandemic, Colorado renters — 35 percent of the state’s population — had already faced challenges including rapidly rising rents and stringent eviction policies, attorneys and researchers said.

律師和研究人員說，甚至在流感大流行之前，佔該州人口35%的科羅拉多州租戶就已經面臨著租金迅速上漲和嚴格的拆遷政策等挑戰。

Median rent for one-bedrooms apartments in the state has risen 26.1 percent since the beginning of 2014, compared to a national increase of 15.5 percent, as the state’s population grew, according to data from the real estate site Apartmentlist.com. Five Colorado cities — Aurora, Thornton, Colorado Springs, Westminster and Lakewood — were among the top 100 large cities with the highest eviction rates in 2016, according to Princeton’s Eviction Lab.

房地產網站Apartmentlist.com的數據顯示，隨著該州人口的增長，該州一居室公寓的租金中值自2014年初以來上漲了26.1%，而全國的漲幅為15.5%。根據普林斯頓驅逐實驗室的數據，2016年，科羅拉多州的5個城市——奧羅拉、桑頓、科羅拉多泉、威斯敏斯特和萊克伍德——躋身驅逐率最高的100個大城市之列。

Unlike other states, renters in Colorado have almost no “cure period,” or time to pay back debt and prevent eviction, said Jack Regenbogen, a senior attorney with the Colorado Center on Law and Policy, a legal aid organization. In Colorado, the period ends the moment that the eviction is filed.

法律援助組織科羅拉多法律與政策中心(Colorado Center on Law and Policy)的高級律師傑克·雷根伯根(Jack Regenbogen)說，與其他州不同，科羅拉多州的租戶幾乎沒有“治癒期”，也就是償還債務和防止被驅逐的時間。在科羅拉多州，這一時期結束的時刻，驅逐提出。

Regenbogen is concerned for the many Coloradans who have lost their jobs; the state has seen more than 231,610 initial unemployment claims filed since mid-March.

Regenbogen擔心許多科羅拉多人失去工作;自3月中旬以來，該州首次申請失業救濟的人數已超過231,610人。

“This crisis serves to compound and illustrate those inequities in the worst possible manifestations,” he said.

他說:“這場危機以最糟糕的形式加劇和說明了這些不平等現象。”

Tenants mobilize

租戶動員

Before the coronavirus outbreak, there was no tenant’s union at The Acacia Apartments, a 55-unit building in downtown Denver. Ryan Leach, 37, a renter in the building, said he decided to help start a union after noticing that many of his neighbors were struggling. Some had received letters from the management demanding that they pay their rent in 10 days or leave.

在冠狀病毒爆發之前，Acacia公寓(位於丹佛市中心，有55個單元)沒有租戶工會。37歲的瑞安·裡奇(Ryan Leach)是這棟大樓的租客，他說，他注意到很多鄰居都在苦苦掙扎，於是決定幫助成立一個工會。有些人收到了管理部門的來信，要求他們在10天內交房租或離開。

“Ultimately, what we want is for them to have open and good faith communication with all residents, and willingness for negotiations,” said Leach, who teaches computer science skills to Palestinian refugees abroad and is not working now because he can’t travel overseas.

“最終，我們希望他們能與所有居民開誠佈公地交流，並願意進行談判，”利奇說。他在國外為巴勒斯坦難民教授計算機科學技能，現在沒有工作，因為他不能出國旅行。

Ryan Leach started a tenant's union at The Acacia Apartments in downtown Denver to help negotiate rent payment options with the building's landlords. (Ryan Leach)

瑞安·裡奇(Ryan Leach)在丹佛市中心的Acacia公寓裡成立了一個租戶工會，幫助房東協商租金支付方案。(Ryan Leach)

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The group of about 25 residents is communicating on Slack and has placed flyers offering support in the building’s common area. The group also sent letters to management asking for rental assistance.

這群約25名居民正在Slack上交流，並在大樓的公共區域張貼了提供幫助的傳單。該組織還寫信給管理部門，要求提供租金援助。

Vicky Pelton, operations director for Olive Bark LLC, which owns Acacia and 12 other apartment properties in Colorado, said that all late fees are waived, and tenants who have asked for a payment plan have been allowed to postpone paying half their rent.

Olive Bark LLC公司在科羅拉多州擁有Acacia和其他12處公寓物業，其運營總監維姬佩爾頓(Vicky Pelton)說，所有的滯期費都被免除了，要求支付計劃的租戶可以推遲支付一半的租金。

Leach said these concessions came after the union’s emails to management.

裡奇說，這些讓步是在工會向管理層發出電子郵件後做出的。

Download the 下載NBC News app NBC新聞應用程序 for full coverage and alerts about the coronavirus outbreak 獲取有關冠狀病毒爆發的全面報道和警報

Demand notices are only sent to tenants who haven’t asked for a payment plan, Pelton said, and no one is being evicted.

Pelton說，催租通知只會發送給那些沒有要求支付計劃的租戶，而且沒有人會被趕出去。

“It’s important for all residents to know that we care about them,” she said. “It’s not in anyone’s best interest for us to put someone out on the street.”

“讓所有居民知道我們關心他們是很重要的，”她說。“對我們來說，把人放到大街上對任何人都沒有好處。”

But many Colorado tenants do not have flexibility in making their rent — including those who are renting from private individuals.

但是許多科羅拉多的租客在租房方面沒有靈活性——包括那些從私人租房子的人。

Alexander Stockton, 26, rents a five-bedroom home with his wife, Nicole, in Arvada, just outside Denver. The couple was already struggling financially at the beginning of the year when Stockton closed his small furniture delivery company. By February, he’d found work doing contract remodeling. But in March, after business closures began, Stockton and Nicole, an assistant manager at a bridal boutique, both lost their jobs.

26歲的亞歷山大·斯托克頓(Alexander Stockton)和妻子妮可(Nicole)在丹佛郊外的阿瓦達(Arvada)租了一套有五間臥室的房子。年初斯托克頓關閉了他的小傢俱送貨公司時，這對夫婦已經在財務上陷入了困境。到了2月份，他找到了一份重塑合同的工作。但在3月份，在業務開始關閉後，斯托克頓和一家婚慶精品店的助理經理尼科爾雙雙失業。

Alexandra and Juliana Stockton (Alex Stockton)

亞歷山德拉和朱莉安娜·斯托克頓(亞歷克斯·斯托克頓)

Stockton said his landlord is an elderly man who relies on the rent to make ends meet. When Stockton asked about a payment plan, he was told it wasn’t possible. (A relative of the landlord, who collects the rent, did not respond to a request for comment.)

斯托克頓說，他的房東是個上了年紀的男人，靠房租勉強維持生計。當斯托克頓問及付款計劃時，他被告知這是不可能的。(負責收取租金的房東的一名親戚沒有回覆記者的置評請求。)

So Stockton said he scrounged up what he could from the couple’s savings, and with the help of family, they made the $2,000 rent for April. Last week, Nicole began receiving unemployment insurance, which will come to about $2,030 a month.

因此，斯托克頓說，他從這對夫婦的積蓄中儘可能地湊錢，在家人的幫助下，他們支付了4月份的2000美元房租。上週，妮可開始領取失業保險，每月大約2030美元。

“So we’ll still be able to make full rent next month, but it’s going to be tight with food,” Stockton said.

斯托克頓說:“所以我們下個月還是可以付得起房租的，但是食品供應會很緊張。”

Stockton said he understands that his landlord is also struggling and doesn’t begrudge him for requiring rent.

斯托克頓說，他知道他的房東也在苦苦掙扎，也不會因為他要求付房租而抱怨。

“He needs a place to live the same way we need it,” Stockton said. “We’re in the same boat.”

“他需要一個地方住，就像我們需要它一樣，”斯托克頓說。“我們處境相同。”

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