Lakewood Municipal Judge Patrick Carroll (left), Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor (center), and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (right) met for an eviction diversion forum in Lakewood on Thursday.

Lakewood Municipal Judge Patrick Carroll (left), Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O'Connor (center), and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown (right) met for an eviction diversion forum in Lakewood on Thursday.

Ohio Supreme Court Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor, Judge Patrick Carroll, and U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown joined forces to explain what Ohio courts can do to address the expected wave of rental evictions. 

Chief Justice O’Connor, Judge Carroll and Sen. Brown discussed the pandemic-related crisis with the news media Thursday at a forum at the judge’s Lakewood Municipal Court.

“Ohio’s courts are venues to connect those in need to the rental assistance dollars distributed by the federal government and as a vessel to resolve disputes between all parties,” Chief Justice O’Connor said.

The chief justice explained the Ohio Supreme Court’s newly published Judicial Guide to Eviction Diversion Toolkit, which goes into detail about how courts can directly and indirectly assist renters and property owners.

The resource provides guidelines and strategies to develop proactive programs aimed at preventing court filings, offering mediation and other forms of dispute resolution, and utilizing community partnerships to obtain funds from the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Emergency Rental Assistance Program to help those financially impacted by COVID-19.

Included in the Court document are templates and sample forms for local courts and parties to use.

“The toolkit underscores the need for judges to recognize eviction cases are more than civil cases for disposition,” Judge Carroll said. “An eviction order impacts a person’s life, home and property, and in many cases, the lives of children who are uprooted from school when forced to move,”

Sen. Brown, as chairman of the Senate’s Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, was a central figure in the federal legislation that led to relief funds being transferred to local community action agencies in Ohio. Those organizations distribute the rental and utilities aid to at-risk applicants.

“We need to do more to get the word out that emergency rental assistance is available, and evictions can be prevented,” said Sen. Brown. “It is critical that we have our courts involved in that effort.”

Coordinated public awareness campaigns, such as this one, can inform tenants and landlords about alternative avenues for resolving housing issues, because if an eviction case is filed, the chief justice said, there are “strict statutory timelines for eviction cases that do not provide much flexibility to allow time for services to be obtained.”

If there’s early intervention outside of the courts, that allows all sides to seek the legal and financial assistance needed to prevent life-altering circumstances.

“The toolkit and this effort are about Ohioans helping Ohioans through this crisis,” Chief Justice O’Connor said.