Bram Sable-Smith (WPR/Wisconsin Watch), Martha Bebinger (WBUR) and Darian Benson (Side Effects Public Media) October 2, 2020 Robert and Stephanie Pettigrew are seen outside of their two-bedroom apartment in Milwaukee on Sept. 4, 2020. Robert, who has a mass on his lung, pursues odd jobs to help put food on the table after leaving a job at Motel 6 for fear that exposure to the coronavirus could trigger severe COVID-19 complications. The family narrowly avoided an eviction after Community Advocates, a nonprofit helping to administer Milwaukee County’s rental assistance program, provided more than $4,700 in emergency rental aid. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has since ordered a nationwide eviction moratorium through the end of 2020, hoping to slow the spread of the virus. The moratorium spotlights a message experts have preached for years: housing stability and health are intertwined. (Coburn Dukehart/Wisconsin Watch) When Robert Pettigrew finally saw the sign in August, he believed the “good Lord” had placed him in front of it. The sign appeared months after a doctor advised the 52-year-old to stop manning the front desk at Motel 6 as a mass on his lung and bouts with pneumonia restricted his breathing. Pettigrew saw the sign after his 25-year-old daughter and her son moved into his Milwaukee apartment where Pettigrew was six months late on rent. After Wisconsin lifted a ban on most evictions during the coronavirus pandemic. And after a landlord filed to evict Pettigrew and his wife, Stephanie. Only then did Pettigrew glimpse the paper sign while being paid $20 to wash windows at Boost Mobile on Atkinson Avenue. The message: “Facing eviction? You could be eligible for up to $3,000 in rent assistance. Apply today.” Do you have feedback on Milwaukee NNS's reporting? Take our survey to let us know how we're doing! “There were nights I would lay in bed and my wife would be asleep, and all I could do was say, ‘God, you need to help me. We need you,’ ” Pettigrew said. “And here He came. He showed himself to us.” Pettigrew’s household is among more than 4,000 in Milwaukee to face eviction since the coronavirus began spreading, according to data compiled by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab, which is tracking evictions in 17 cities during the pandemic. The Milwaukee filings eclipsed pre-pandemic averages in June and July but fell below averages for August. Robert, Stephanie and Heavenly Pettigrew are seen on Sept. 4, outside of their two-bedroom apartment in Milwaukee. The family’s household is among more than 4,000 in Milwaukee to face eviction since the coronavirus began spreading, according to data compiled by Princeton University’s Eviction Lab. But the Pettigrews managed to stay in the apartment after receiving emergency rental assistance in August. (Coburn Dukehart / Wisconsin Watch) As of Sept. 19, landlords in Eviction Lab-tracked cities had filed for more than 50,000 evictions since March 15, including about 11,600 in Houston, 10,900 in Phoenix and 4,400 in Columbus, Ohio. The incomplete snapshot excludes major American cities such as Indianapolis, where local housing advocates say landlords have sought to evict thousands of renters but court cases are difficult to track. As many as 40 million Americans faced a looming eviction risk in August as millions remain jobless, with inconsistent access to public assistance, according to a report authored by 10 national housing and eviction experts. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention cited that estimate on Sept. 1 in ordering an unprecedented nationwide eviction moratorium through the end of 2020. That the country’s top public health agency ordered the moratorium spotlights a message experts have preached for years without prompting major policy action: housing stability and health are intertwined. Mounting research illustrates that even the threat of eviction exacts a physical and mental toll from tenants. Children raised in unstable housing are more prone to hospitalization than children with stable housing. Homelessness is associated with delayed childhood development, and mothers in families that lose homes to eviction show higher rates of depression and other health challenges. The CDC is now citing stable housing as a vital tool to control COVID-19, which has killed nearly 200,000 Americans. Home is where people isolate to avoid transmitting coronavirus or becoming infected, and governments count on residents having a home when issuing stay-at-home orders in the name of public health. Home is where to recover from COVID-19’s fever, chills, muscle pain and trouble breathing — in lieu of or after a hospital stay.