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Evictions in the U.S. are typically performed by public officials, like deputy sheriffs. Then there's Philadelphia. For decades, a private entity has carried out most of the city's evictions with armed contractors until a string of shootings last year spurred change. Aaron Moselle of member station WHYY reports.
AARON MOSELLE, BYLINE: Mark has hazy memories of the morning he got evicted.
MARK: The girl next door came and said, yo, you hear the sheriffs are out here? And then you could hear people running up and down the street - man, the sheriffs are going all up and down the houses.
MOSELLE: He also remembers the loud knock at his apartment door. It startled him. He knew his landlord had filed for an eviction - he allegedly refused to give an exterminator access to his place - but Mark says he didn't know anyone was coming that day to lock him out. And yet here was a stranger carrying a gun, telling him he had to leave. We agreed to withhold Mark's name due to fears of retaliation.
MARK: Yeah, I felt very intimidated. I'm trying to figure out what to grab, and you're standing here telling me 10 minutes. I'm wondering if you're watching your watch.
MOSELLE: Mark saw the man's matching shirt and pants and assumed he was with the Philadelphia Sheriff's Office. He found out later he wasn't even law enforcement. Kadeem Morris leads the housing unit at Community Legal Services, a legal aid group in Philadelphia. He says in most places, public officials perform all evictions.
KADEEM MORRIS: They're showing up in a uniform that is readily identifiable as a state- or city-issued uniform, so you kind of know at the onset that I'm dealing with an officer of the law.
MOSELLE: In Philadelphia, however, most court-ordered lockouts are conducted by armed security contractors hired by what's known as the Landlord and Tenant Office. Despite the name, the office is not a government agency. It's a private entity led by a court-appointed attorney that landlords pay to perform evictions. The office has existed for more than 50 years. It's now expected to close in the coming weeks. Two tenants were shot by deputy landlord-tenant officers last year. Both women are suing, and the Landlord and Tenant Office is now struggling to secure the liability insurance it needs to continue operating.
JAMIE GAUTHIER: It's affirmation and confirmation that this entity was not equipped to carry out this function.
MOSELLE: City Council Member Jamie Gauthier pushed for reforms in the wake of last year's shootings. She says she feels better about the fact that the sheriff's office will now be the only one handling evictions in Philly.
GAUTHIER: They've never had the type of dangerous incidents that the LTO has experienced. They actually go, you know, forward with different protocols as far as notice, as far as giving people resources at one of the most traumatic times in their lives.
MOSELLE: The Landlord and Tenant Office declined to comment. Not everyone is thrilled about the sheriff's office being the only option for landlords. Greg Wertman is president of HAPCO Philadelphia, the city's largest advocacy group for landlords and property managers. He says the transition could be bad news for landlords and low-income tenants if it takes longer for the sheriff to perform lockouts.
GREG WERTMAN: The more months that go by, the more money that landlord loses. Can they make it up? If they're in low- to moderate-income housing, absolutely not. The margins are too thin.
MOSELLE: Over time, Wertman says, that could lead to more landlords converting their affordable units to market rate apartments or selling them off at a time when Philly is experiencing an affordable housing crisis. Housing advocates say it's a risk they're willing to take if it means evictions in Philly are safer for tenants going forward.
For NPR News, I'm Aaron Moselle in Philadelphia.
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