MILWAUKEE (SPECTRUM NEWS) — Calls about rental assistance have skyrocketed since Wisconsin’s moratorium preventing evictions ended on May 26.

“We have primarily served the poorest neighborhoods in our city and those tend to be predominantly person’s of color,” says Colleen Foley, Executive Director for Legal Aid Society of Milwaukee. “What we’re seeing in the pandemic is that we’re hearing from zip codes around the city we don’t normally get calls from.”

Legal Aid is one of the oldest non-profit law firms in the country. On average, Foley says before the pandemic, the law firm saw 60 calls per week. That has now jumped to 60 calls per day.

“This past weekend, we had 90 phone calls and that’s not including our online intake form which is a whole other source of intake information we’re getting,” Foley said.

Milwaukee County has received $7 million in CARES Act funding, with another $3 million expected. That equates to up to $3,000 per household. The Wisconsin Rental Assistance Program has received $25 million from the CARES Act. Foley says long term, it won’t be enough.

“It’s going to go really fast because there’s so many people in need,” she said. “The SDC (Social Development Commission) director said in a Zoom call last week they had 20,000 voicemails in their system.”

Foley says since May 26, landlords have filed 1,860 evictions. She says there have been cases where a family has received funding, but it has not been properly documented by the landlord.

“I just heard today that a family that got funds, the landlord didn’t efficiently communicate that to the sheriff’s office so this family was evicted yesterday,” Foley said. “That’s after the landlord got I think $1,500 in funds.”

Community Advocates is a Milwaukee-based group that helps administer a lot of this funding. Thus far, CEO And Elliott says $195,000 has been approved to 114 households.

“In 2009 during the recession, the volume was high but it’s nowhere near what we’re seeing now,” Elliott said. “The unemployment numbers are unprecedented in my lifetime.”

If you need rental assistance, click here to access the online form for Community Advocates.  Click here to access the form for Legal Aid.