Alejandra Calderon Lopez said even if her whole family pools all their money together from the odd jobs they've been able to find over the last few weeks, they'd maybe have $100. But her monthly rent is $1,200.

"I don't have any other place to go," Lopez said in Spanish. "I'm alone with my kids." 

Lopez is a single mom of four and lost her job at a restaurant in March when the outbreak began. She hasn't found full time work since, and tore through the little savings she had to make rent. She still owes $600 for May, late fees for June and hasn't made a dent in July's bill.

"We have no support," she said. "I'm terrified of losing my home"

Housing advocates say that with the pandemic stretching on for months, too many families are struggling to make rent. They say there'll be an inevitable flood of evictions if those facing months of piled up rent don't get more time or help to pay it back. 

"People are are in a state of panic," said Jose Ortiz, the deputy legal director for Essex Newark Legal Services. "They don't know if there's gonna be a light at the end of the tunnel."

Gov. Phil Murphy's eviction moratorium only stops sheriff's officers from enforcing lock outs through the first two months after the end of the state's public health emergency, which is currently set to expire at the beginning of August. But even under the moratorium, tenants are still required to pay rent and landlords can still start eviction proceedings in court. Many have — even though trials are suspended.

Records show more than 15,000 filings in landlord-tenant court between April and June. That's down about 50 percent from last year. But Catherine Weiss, who heads the pro bono program at the Lowenstein Sandler law firm, said that's still thousands of families facing potential eviction once courts reopen and the moratorium lifts.

"That is the tip of a very large iceberg," she said. "There will be a very, very significant number of evictions if we do not find a way to get assistance."

In late April, the state Judiciary said courts could proceed with settlement hearings. Courts in two counties have been conducting them online. Attorneys say that's a huge problem since most tenants have no legal representation. 

"The settlement agreement is supposed to be voluntary, but the tenants are not being educated on that point," Ortiz said. "To me, it appears to be a serious violation of due process."

Attorneys also say the courts need to ensure the evictions that have been filed are actually legal. The federal CARES Act prohibits any federally subsidized properties, like Section-8 housing or a property with a mortgage backed by Freddie Mac, from being part of an eviction filing through July 25th. Weiss said 14 states have taken action to ensure filings comply with the law —but not New Jersey.

"Nothing in New Jersey has been done to enforce that," she said. "Nothing."

A courts spokesman told WNYC said they are working to address these concerns, and emphasized evictions remain on pause.

But Maria Nunez Lopez of the Ironbound Community Corporation in Newark says even though the only legal way to get someone evicted is through the courts, some landlords have taken to harassing tenants to get them to leave.

"We're seeing illegal lockouts. Landlords who turn off the water," she said. "The landlords who are calling their tenants every single day and demanding that they be paid, putting enormous psychological stress on people."

Lopez said its exacerbating an already existing housing crisis on top of a public health crisis that already disproportionately impacts Black and Latino communities. That's why housing advocates are asking lawmakers to pass what they call the "people's bill," which would give tenants up to six months to pay back each month of owed rent.

"We're expecting tenants to make money out of nothing....They don't have jobs. Some of them are undocumented," she said. 

David Brogan is the director of the New Jersey Apartment Association, which represents owners of multi-family and apartment units. He says he supports the intent of the bill but says it needs to be better tailored for those actually affected by the pandemic.

"There's a domino effect when rent revenue just disappears," he said. "It simply shifts the burden from one group of individuals to another group...and provides no help to landlords whatsoever."

Brogan says there needs to be more rental assistance for tenants. But the government also needs to do more for property owners. The state is extending unemployment benefits and launched a $100 million rental assistance program but that's not enough to account for the enormous need that advocates estimate at more than $3 billion.