Residents were still being evicted during the pandemic in New Mexico

By T.J. Wilham

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    ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico (KOAT) — David Ulibarri lived in a small home for 13 years.

“It was nice,” he said. “Three bedroom. It suited me and my wife and grandkids. And two houses over was my daughter.”

But over the holidays and in the middle of the pandemic, his landlord wanted him out because he wanted to sell this house.

“He threatened that if we didn’t move, he was going to take us to court and sue us,” he said.

So that’s what the landlord did. Ulibarri agreed to move.

“I’m already 68. You know, it is is just rough,” Ulibarri said. “I mean, it’s embarrassing.”

While Ulibarri was not evicted, there is a supreme court order banning landlords for kicking out tenants. However, it doesn’t protect everyone.

“The state’s stay on evictions only applies to tenants who are being evicted for nonpayment of rent,” said University of New Mexico associate professor Elizabeth Elia. “We have less than half the number of landlord-tenant cases filed at this time this year than in a typical year before it, before COVID. So there’s definitely been an effect by just the existence of these moratoria.”

Still – not everyone was safe.

Landlords were still finding ways to evict New Mexicans in the middle of the pandemic. According to data kept by Elia and one of her students, there were 13,204 evictions filed in the state since the supreme court issued the stay.

“You have an unauthorized pet. You have someone staying with you longer than the three days that you’re at least technically allows. You made a lot of noise,” said UNM Professor Serge Martinez who has also been tracking evictions.

And then there were tenants who were protected because they couldn’t pay their rent who still got kicked out.

“Tenants have to go to court,” Elia said. “They have to attend their hearing and they have to explain to the court that they are not paying their rent because they are affected by COVID. Many, many tenants in New Mexico don’t know that they have that available to them and never go to court. They are too focused on trying to move and they don’t necessarily go or take advantage of that.”

There are people who have taken advantage of the assistance that is offered to them. But the clock is ticking on when the state will lift the ban on evictions.

“It’s not going to be forever when we just don’t know,” Martinez said. “They could be meeting right now to decide to lift it this afternoon. I suspect that’s not the case, but it’s definitely not going to be a permanent feature of life in New Mexico.”

The uncertainty has Jack Corder of the Albuquerque Metro Chapter of the National Association of Residential Property Managers.

“If the state supreme court doesn’t give any kind of advance notice or warning, then at that point, it could cause total havoc in the system, and you will end up possibly having people homeless,” Corder said. “There are owners out there that manage their own properties that could care less. And if you don’t pay your rent on time, they’ll they just assume throw you on the street.”

Ulibarri was lucky enough to not be forced to live on the streets. He was able to save up and buy his own home.

“So we had to stay with my daughter, my brother, and we just bounce back and forth between,” Ulibarri said. “Until we finally got this house.”

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