More than a dozen landlord-tenant complaints were filed in Butler County on Monday and Tuesday.

For now, though, those will likely have to wait.

With the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention imposing another moratorium on evictions Tuesday, landlord-tenant complaints are again on pause: this time until COVID-19 transmission in Butler County slows down.

The CDC's new order, announced Tuesday, prevents eviction for nonpayment of rent in U.S. counties with “substantial” or “high” levels of COVID-19 transmission.

A county earns the “substantial” designation by having more than 50 new cases per 100,000 residents in the past seven days and by having an 8% or higher positive test rate during the past seven days. For the “high” designation, a county must have at least 100 new cases per 100,000 residents in the previous week and a 10% or higher positive test rate during the prior seven days.

If only one criterion is met, the county earns the higher designation.

Butler County, which according to the CDC has had 56.43 new cases per 100,000 residents and a 4.25% positivity rate in the past week, entered the “substantial” range Monday. Neighboring Allegheny, Beaver, Clarion, Lawrence and Venango counties also earned the CDC's substantial designation, and Armstrong and Mercer counties are in the “moderate” — 10 to 50 new cases and 5% to 8% positivity — range.

The order is in effect through Oct. 3, but Butler County landlords have one reprieve: If the county falls under the substantial thresholds for 14 consecutive days, the order does not apply.

Tenant funds

Pennsylvania received about $570 million from the federal government to establish an emergency rental assistance program, or ERAP. According to the U.S. Treasury, however, just $79.9 million of those funds were used to pay rent, back rent and utilities, assisting some 18,500 households, in Pennsylvania by June 30.

Applications in Butler County opened March 29, and the county received $12.3 million in ERAP funds. No data was available on how many applications were filed, households assisted or dollars disbursed.

Christine Kirby, director of development at Neighborhood Legal Services, stressed the importance of ERAP funds for renters who are behind on rent or utilities.

“One of the fortunate things is, right now, there's rental assistance dollars that are available to help people catch up on back rent, back utilities,” Kirby said. “Hopefully, the use of the rental assistance dollars will enable landlord and tenants to work out payments and move forward.”

Kirby said NLS, which provides free legal services to low-income individuals and families in Allegheny, Beaver, Butler and Lawrence counties, has been working with community partners to aid in efforts to increase access to ERAP funds.

Eligibility for those funds includes households in which one or more people has qualified for unemployment benefits, had a decrease in income, had increased household expenses or experienced another financial hardship due directly or indirectly to COVID-19. ERAP funds are for “low-income households,” which is households at or below 80% of the area median income. In Butler, that is $46,500 for a one-person household or $66,400 for four people.

“The Emergency Rental Assistance Program is a true lifeline and people should take advantage of it,” especially those with private landlords, Kirby said.