For Many Motel Dwellers, Eviction Ban Provides No Relief

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March 27th, 2021

Armetrius Neason poses for a photo inside his room at the Efficiency Lodge hotel outside Atlanta on March 16, 2021. Neason has lived at the hotel for more than five years, but was told during the pandemic he had fallen behind on rent and could be immediately locked out.

Sudhin S. Thanawala / AP Photo

For more than five years, home for Armetrius Neason has been a hotel outside Atlanta. He’s adorned the walls with dozens of pictures of Black celebrities and icons. It’s the address on his driver’s license and where he receives mail.

But last year as the COVID-19 pandemic raged, the hotel accused him of owing $1,800 in back rent and threatened to lock him out, the 58-year-old said.

“I was packing my clothes. I really had nowhere to go,” he recalled during a phone interview.

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