Gov. Tom Wolf announces Thursday an executive order preventing homeowners and renters from being dislocated due to financial hardships. – PHOTO/SCREENSHOT FROM LIVESTREAM
Pennsylvania residents cannot legally be evicted or have their homes foreclosed for another two months, as per an executive order signed by Gov. Tom Wolf, as the COVID-19 pandemic’s latent financial impacts continue to take a toll on the economy.
Wolf’s moratorium extends an April ruling from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that barred landlords and lenders from removing people from their residences due to inability to meet rent and mortgage payments through May 11. The governor’s executive order extends the same coverage through July 10.
“Ensuring that people can remain in their homes will help them to better protect their loved ones,” Wolf told reporters Thursday. “It gives families the comfort of knowing they will have a place to live while all of us work together to fight COVID-19 and prepare to move Pennsylvania forward.”
For landlords reliant on rent income for their income, state Attorney General Josh Shapiro said the PA CARE Package offers them financial relief. A brainchild of Shapiro’s office, the PA CARE Package is a consortium of financial lenders with a geographic footprint in Pennsylvania that have agreed to waive certain payments to customers grappling with the ongoing economic recession.
Lending institutions that have joined the PA CARE Package program include Flagship Credit Acceptance, Community Regional Credit Union, First National Bank of Pennsylvania, Visions Federal Credit Union, Marion Center Bank, Bank of America, InFirst Bank, Clearview Federal Credit Union, WSFS Bank, Fulton Bank, OceanFirst Bank, Citizens Bank, Dollar Bank, First Commonwealth Bank and PNC Bank.
Shapiro said businesses are generally included in the governor’s moratorium, but he said his office would be willing to help negotiate disputes that arise between commercial tenants and landlords.
