The Thursday afternoon session of the Warren Township Small Claims Court on the east side of Indianapolis begins with a clerk reading out loud the terms of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) moratorium on evictions. This applies to renters at risk of becoming homeless because they lost substantial income due to reduced work hours or medical issues who have been trying to obtain rental assistance while paying what they can to their landlords, the clerk announces. Tenants who qualify can submit a declaration to their landlord that should keep them in their homes for the time being.

Judge Garland Graves takes the bench, and the hearings begin. One of the tenants who is facing eviction this afternoon, a young mother, tells Judge Graves that she had not understood the moratorium before the clerk read it aloud. It turns out she had COVID, lost her job, and is awaiting a decision on her application for help with her rent. The judge instructs her on how to file a declaration that may postpone her eviction.

But her reprieve may not be for long. The CDC moratorium is set to expire on July 31, and Indiana, like most states, has no current local or state moratoriums that would protect tenants. This young mother in Indianapolis, like many across the nation, sits on the verge of an eviction crisis.