The Legal Aid Society and housing justice advocates across the nation sounded the alarm over the upcoming expiration of eviction bans at the end of the year, warning that this will disproportionately impact communities of color, as reported by POLITICO.

The lapse could push millions of struggling tenants into the streets in the middle of winter amid a dramatic surge in the virus, and negatively impact the staggering racial wealth gap for years.

While state law protects some tenants who are behind on rent due to the pandemic from being removed from their homes, legal advocates say much of the enforcement is left up to the discretion of individual judges, leaving many tenants vulnerable to displacement.

“Anyone without an attorney is left out of this . . . Anyone who has a complicated story to explain how COVID has affected them is having difficulty,” such as people who are undocumented, said Ellen Davidson, a tenant attorney at The Legal Aid Society.