Since the moratorium on evictions placed during the pandemic was lifted more than a year and a half ago, thousands of notices have gone out to tenants behind on their rent, telling them to get out.

The city of St. Petersburg is letting those renters know their rights before those eviction notices get to their doors. Beatriz Zafra is a community support specialist with the city. She has the tough job of being the bearer of bad news.

“We’re letting the tenant know an eviction’s been filed against them, to call me, their court case number and then the city reference number,” she said.

Safra tracks the location and number of evictions. Her job is to get ahead of those official notices.

“I just go out to explain to them what the process is. What they should expect. What their options are and who they can call for assistance,” she said about the process. “Since I’ve started last week in August, we’ve had over 820 evictions. That was our last recorded date.”

According to Eviction Lab, a Princeton University project, there were 1,605 eviction filings in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties last month, which is up 24% from the historical average. Overall, the report found evictions are up by 25% from this time last year. That’s why she says getting to tenants early is important.

“Once they get that notice, they only have 5 business days to turn in all their money,” she said.

Raevin Graham is one of those tenants Zafra tried to help avoid eviction.

“When he (my landlord) filed for eviction, Beatriz and her program did help me see what things he was supposed to do, as well as my things, my procedures,” Graham said.

She still ended up being evicted from her home in South St. Pete. Now she and her four kids are living with family while she works two jobs, hoping to get back into a home of their own soon.

“My biggest takeaway is to make sure that I put myself and my children in a position where we never lose something like this again,” Graham said.