美国国家公共电台 NPR As Temperatures Fall, No Halt To Evictions Across Most Of The Country

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

An estimated 2.7 million renters in the United States face eviction¹ every year, according to the real estate website Redfin. And many of those evictions take place in wintertime, when temperatures fall below freezing. Now, some countries, like France and Austria, prohibit kicking people out when it is so cold, but not in the U.S. As NPR's Pam Fessler reports, few places here ban evictions in bad weather.

PAM FESSLER, BYLINE³: Christine Thompson can't wait to get out of the two-bedroom apartment she rents in a shabby house on the north side of Milwaukee

CHRISTINE THOMPSON: In the bathroom, I have to turn my shower on in order for the light to come on. And when I turn the shower off, the light goes off.

FESSLER: She also has mice, cockroaches⁴ and lots of bedbugs - so many, in fact, that she and her sons - ages 3 and 7 - sleep on an air mattress⁵ on the only floor without a carpet.

THOMPSON: And then this is my room. The light here doesn't work either.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: It come on when it want to.

THOMPSON: Yeah, when it wants to.

FESSLER: But Thompson's search for a new place has hit a brick wall. Her landlord has filed an eviction case against her, saying she owes more than $3,000 in back rent. Thompson disputes that, but with an eviction pending⁶, most other landlords won't rent to her. Others demand payments way out of her range. So Thompson's been calling the local homeless shelters.

THOMPSON: And they'll tell me to call back. They don't have any openings right now. They're all full. And I understand because it's the wintertime, and a lot of homeless people are going to the shelters.

FESSLER: And she's hardly alone. There are about 12,000 eviction cases each year in Milwaukee County. While many of those tenants⁷ move in with family or friends or into cheaper apartments, some do end up outside.

SHENISE MORGAN: I think it sucks. Wintertime, especially in Wisconsin, is so cold. You know, you've got - majority of people that's being evicted⁹ got kids, you know? It's heartless.

FESSLER: Shenise Morgan is with the Tenant⁸ Resource Center in Madison, where she helps families facing eviction. Morgan knows how scary that can be. For almost a year, she, her husband and their six children lived in their car and a camper when they couldn't find an apartment they could afford. They would turn on the car engine to keep warm. Morgan says some of her clients mistakenly think they can't be evicted in winter.

MORGAN: You know, they is like, I know my landlord's doing this illegally. They trying to evict² us in the wintertime. And we have to call them and let them know, like, no, that's law. They can.

FESSLER: And that's pretty much the case around the country. Some places, like Maryland and Washington D.C., do postpone¹⁰ evictions when it's below freezing or over the holidays. But that's the exception. In Wisconsin, the state legislature passed a law six years ago that expressly prohibits local governments from imposing¹¹ such moratoriums¹².

ED HAHLBECK: OK. That'll be one of the units you're spraying, but spray that one second. And you're doing apartment No. 4.

FESSLER: Ed Hahlbeck is what's known as a mom and pop landlord. He owns one building in Milwaukee with five rental¹⁴ units. He tries to give struggling tenants some leeway, but says you also have to look at it from the landlord's side. Hahlbeck evicted one tenant right before Thanksgiving because the man was a couple of months behind and showed no signs of paying up.

HAHLBECK: Again, people say, well, he's a landlord. He's got plenty of money and all that stuff. Well, I don't. I'm just an average Joe. And I got a family. I got three kids. I put them all through college. And this guy stole, you know, 2,000 bucks¹⁵ from me. You know, I'll never get it back.

FESSLER: Hahlbeck says an eviction moratorium¹³ would mean even more months without rent, even though he still has to pay his mortgage and other bills. Heiner Giese is an attorney with the Apartment Association of Southeastern Wisconsin. He says the irony¹⁶ is that if landlords like Hahlbeck go out of business, there will be even less affordable¹⁷ housing in the area for low-income families, which just about everyone agrees is at the root of the problem.

HEINER GIESE: We would have no problem with the moratorium. But the question is, who is going to pay for it?

FESSLER: He says maybe the government should, but admits that's unlikely. For her part, Christine Thompson's hopeful she'll find another place, even if it busts¹⁸ her already tight budget. She makes little more than minimum wage working part time at banquets and other events.

THOMPSON: I was telling my kids, like, if we have to move, we probably won't have a Christmas this year, but we going to make it. It's better to have a house than Christmas, anyway.

FESSLER: But she better find one soon. Her eviction case goes to court December 20.

Pam Fessler, NPR News, Milwaukee.

(SOUNDBITE OF DONELL GRAY'S "CERTIFIED")

1 eviction   

n.租地等的收回

参考例句：

• The family have won a temporary reprieve from eviction.这个家庭暂时免于被逐出。
• He claimed damages for unlawful eviction.他要求对非法驱逐作出赔偿。

2 evict   

vt.驱逐，赶出，撵走

参考例句：

• The lessor can evict the lessee for failure to pay rent.出租人可驱逐不付租金的承租人。
• The government always says it's for the greater good when they evict farmers from their land.当政府把农民从他们的土地赶出去的时候，总是号称是为了更大众的利益。

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 cockroaches   

n.蟑螂( cockroach的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• At night, the cockroaches filled the house with their rustlings. 夜里，屋里尽是蟑螂窸窸瑟瑟的声音。 来自辞典例句
• It loves cockroaches, and can keep a house clear of these hated insects. 它们好食蟑螂，可以使住宅免除这些讨厌昆虫的骚扰。 来自百科语句

5 mattress   

n.床垫，床褥

参考例句：

• The straw mattress needs to be aired.草垫子该晾一晾了。
• The new mattress I bought sags in the middle.我买的新床垫中间陷了下去。

6 pending   

prep.直到，等待…期间；adj.待定的；迫近的

参考例句：

• The lawsuit is still pending in the state court.这案子仍在州法庭等待定夺。
• He knew my examination was pending.他知道我就要考试了。

7 tenants   

n.房客( tenant的名词复数 )；佃户；占用者；占有者

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。

8 tenant   

n.承租人；房客；佃户；v.租借，租用

参考例句：

• The tenant was dispossessed for not paying his rent.那名房客因未付房租而被赶走。
• The tenant is responsible for all repairs to the building.租户负责对房屋的所有修理。

9 evicted   

v.（依法从房屋里或土地上）驱逐，赶出( evict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• A number of tenants have been evicted for not paying the rent. 许多房客因不付房租被赶了出来。
• They had evicted their tenants for non-payment of rent. 他们赶走了未交房租的房客。

10 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

11 imposing   

adj.使人难忘的，壮丽的，堂皇的，雄伟的

参考例句：

• The fortress is an imposing building.这座城堡是一座宏伟的建筑。
• He has lost his imposing appearance.他已失去堂堂仪表。

12 moratoriums   

正式的延缓，暂停( moratorium的名词复数 )

参考例句：

13 moratorium   

n.(行动、活动的)暂停(期)，延期偿付

参考例句：

• The government has called for a moratorium on weapons testing.政府已要求暂停武器试验。
• We recommended a moratorium on two particular kinds of experiments.我们建议暂禁两种特殊的实验。

14 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

15 bucks   

n.雄鹿( buck的名词复数 )；钱；（英国十九世纪初的）花花公子；（用于某些表达方式）责任v.（马等）猛然弓背跃起( buck的第三人称单数 )；抵制；猛然震荡；马等尥起后蹄跳跃

参考例句：

• They cost ten bucks. 这些值十元钱。
• They are hunting for bucks. 他们正在猎雄兔。 来自《简明英汉词典》

16 irony   

n.反语，冷嘲；具有讽刺意味的事，嘲弄

参考例句：

• She said to him with slight irony.她略带嘲讽地对他说。
• In her voice we could sense a certain tinge of irony.从她的声音里我们可以感到某种讥讽的意味。

17 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

18 busts   

半身雕塑像( bust的名词复数 )； 妇女的胸部； 胸围； 突击搜捕

参考例句：

• Dey bags swells up and busts. 那奶袋快胀破了。
• Marble busts all looked like a cemetery. 大理石的半身象，简直就象是坟山。