At a packed budget public hearing on Thursday, June 5, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners heard from more than 30 speakers who offered input on the proposed 2025-2026 budget presented by County Manager Mike Halford. The majority of speakers focused on the need for increased funding for Guilford County Schools; however, another group, Keep Gate City Housed, was also there in force with a sizable and vocal presence in the commissioners meeting room in the Old Guilford County Court House in downtown Greensboro.
Keep Gate City Housed is asking the county to allocate nearly $850,000 in the upcoming budget to extend services the group currently offers to residents facing eviction. The initiative was formed in 2024 in collaboration with the American Friends Service Committee North Carolina and has been funded through the end of December 2025 using federal American Rescue Plan Act funds. The additional money the group is seeking would allow the organization to continue operations through the end of the fiscal year on June 30, 2026.
The audience included a large contingent of Keep Gate City Housed supporters, many of whom waved pom-poms in support after each speaker from the group addressed the commissioners.
A woman who works with the UNC-Greensboro Center for Housing and Community Studies explained that her team has seen over 3,000 clients, offering mediation services to help people avoid court proceedings and resolve landlord-tenant disputes.
“Our program is about mediation,” she said. “We target help to people to avoid going to court. We have reached out to landlords so we can let them know the center is available for an attorney to come and resolve the issue.”
She noted that clients have ranged from homeowners with housing repair issues to people who are already homeless. She also emphasized the center’s efforts to maintain and update a weekly list of available affordable housing options.
A man named Terrell, an organizer and tenant, spoke very enthusiastically in support of the funding.
“Our big piece right now has been educating tenants – upstream planning and problem solving,” he said. “We’ve been able to identify more properties in our affordable housing portfolio and help tenants being retaliated against in their evictions.”
Terrell called on the commissioners to act with foresight.
An attorney from Legal Aid of North Carolina, who’s been working with the project, said Guilford County’s support has been essential to maintaining a presence in eviction court. “We recently expanded to be there four days a week, which is all the days that court is in session in Greensboro,” she said. “Without continued county funding, we cannot continue that level of service. Every day we see the difference this is making in people’s lives.”
Another speaker, a local criminal defense attorney, said the eviction crisis in the area is connected to broader social issues.
“So many of my clients have had unstable housing situations,” he told the commissioners. “They get evicted and end up in areas plagued by gun violence. Their kids are displaced from schools. It’s all connected.”
The speaker told the board that a county budget is more than just numbers on a page. He said it’s something much loftier.
“Our budget is a moral document of what a community values,” he said. “By supporting housing stability, we can reduce crime and poverty and give kids a real chance.”
Several speakers pointed out that the eviction crisis affects all age groups – and everyone from college students to veterans to families with children.
One supporter told the board, “This is not about leading – this is about us. It’s about the people you drive past every single day.”
She urged the commissioners to understand the real-world consequences of letting the program lapse.
Another attorney described a rare moment in court that day when the judge had to call a recess during eviction proceedings.
“That’s how impactful the tenant support team has become,” she said. “If that gentleman had court on a day we weren’t funded to be there, he might never have been connected to services. When someone ends up homeless, it costs the county a lot more than supporting us in court to explain their rights.”
Keep Gate City Housed formed in May 2024 as a grassroots effort to change how evictions are handled in Guilford County. The group has worked with City of Greensboro and Guilford County staff – as well as with service providers and volunteers – to expand access to legal resources and rental assistance in the county.
Everyone knows Guilford County has a bad homeless problem and the group’s mission is based on stark local numbers: About 16,000 Guilford County residents received eviction notices last year, however, only 10 percent had legal representation –compared to 90 percent of landlords.
Speakers cited examples from other cities. Louisville spends $400,000 annually on eviction prevention in anticipation of cost savings. Cleveland invests more than $3 million each year on legal and rental aid programs.
In Guilford County, the TEAM (Tenant Education and Advocacy Movement) project– run through Legal Aid and UNCG – has helped 30 percent of represented tenants avoid eviction.
While it remains to be seen whether the commissioners will fund the request – it is an extremely tight budget this year – the group made a clear and coordinated push, and made the argument that the cost of inaction is higher than the price of prevention.
That could sway some commissioners to offer the group more funding.
As one speaker pleaded, “This is about making sure there’s someone there to help.”
Do you think it would make more sense to help renters BEFORE notice of eviction? A tenant knows in advance that the upcoming rent cannot be paid. The renter does not find out that there is no rent money on the day the rent is due. Why not provide a service for renters who are struggling? Sorta like a debt counselor. Find out why the rent cannot be paid. To wait and help the tenant when eviction is evident, is unjust to the tenant and landlord. If Keep Gate City Housed truly wants to help, take a proactive approach to help the tenant find a way to pay the rent. This way, no need for courts or lawyers. Or, maybe Keep Gate City Housed prefers an adversarial relationship which offers notoriety. No disrespect but those individuals in the above photo look like they just came from a progressive political meeting.
Oh, hush! You’re making too much sense! Adversarial procedings always hold the lede when dealing with “predatory” landlords. Suggesting that drug, alcohol and even tobacco use contributes to social problems leading to a renter’s insolvency distracts from the narrative.
What the hell…the way this Board of Commissars hands out hardworking taxpayers money like it was candy to any Tom, Dick, or Harry that tells them they have a block of voters for them tells those same taxpayers they don’t give a flip about them and are more concerned with the voting blocks they can bye.
I think I’ll start an NPO for left handed, one legged, half-blind multi-sexuals with a stuttering problem. I bet can get $20,000 or $30,000 for their care (after kickbacks). Anybody want to be on the Board of Directors?
Of course, the people in the picture look like progressives. I don’t believe conservatives make it much of a priority to help those struggling financially.
Your comment is so twisted. Progressives gather in groups to force issues. They are mostly White who believe they are superior intellectually than others. They are mostly White females but as can be seen in the above photo, White progressive men can be just as misguided as White progressive women. The main difference between progressives and conservatives is the source of the money they give away. Progressives want to take your tax money to give to whomever they believe worthy; conservatives donate their own hard-earned money. The goal of Keep Guilford Housed is to take your property tax money to give to individuals who don’t pay their rent. A truly benevolent goal would be to help the tenant before they reached the eviction notice.
Or maybe they are just people who have time to give back to their community with little to no expectation of anything in return. Not everyone has millions of dollars to donate to charities so many people donate their time working hands on with a charity including trying to help campaign for public tax dollars for those charities that help the community and at times even save the taxpayer money. For example, in this case, it is cheaper to provide legal services to avoid eviction and help mediate a viable solution for both landlord and renter than it is to cover the cost of homelessness.
I am pretty comfortable that both conservatives and progressives are happy to donate money and time to charities to be fair. I think the big difference is that progressive believe in supporting everyone versus just they few ‘they judge’ worthy as progressives tend to have far more compassion and empathy for the disadvantaged, discriminated and shunned members of our society.
In looking briefly at some AI search results, conservatives tend to give more through their churches (which have notoriously high administrative overhead costs versus direct aid provided to local needs or missions work [I am the treasurer of my church so have some experience here]) and progressives tend to give more directly to a larger number of non-profits who directly serve those in need.
I think the better way to state the purpose of the charity is to help the city avoid the cost of homelessness by helping mediate between a landlord and a renter a viable solution that works for both parties. I say, that is a noble cause and makes sense to request some tax funds to help support such a specialized service for the benefit of the community as a whole.
Careful your racism is showing. Imagine they say the white people are racist.
Careful your racism is showing and they say the whites are racist.
i have progressive insurance.
The owner IS “progressive”. Try Amica or USAA.
please direct all beautiful progressive females of any race my way. i’ll pay you a finders fee.
Always slinging arrows, fix the problem Chris, not the blame.
As taxpayers we seldom get a voice in City or County politics, but an organized small block of whiners can sway where OUR money is spent.
TERM LIMITS is correct; GIVE ME A FISH AND I EAT TODAY, TEACH ME TO FISH AND I WILL EAT FOR A LIFETIME.
Above all we are responsible for ourselves, then and only then can we help others.
Sounds like a you problem. Maybe YOU should organize a group to increase the volume of YOUR group like minded people. That’s how grassroots works together to get things done.
American believer,
I don’t know if you know it or not but Chris is not a taxpaying citizen of Guilford County, something he likes to point out.
How much of the taxpayer money was spent on the shirts that all these people wore at the Commissioner meeting. Seems to me that the money could have been spent to assist an individual facing eviction.
The headline is erroneous. This group doesn’t want “County” money to fight evicting renters– it wants TAXPAYER’S money to fight evicting squatters, those who live in someone else’s house without paying for that privilege. And yes, it’s a privilege, not a right to live in a house you don’t own. If you don’t want to be evicted, PAY THE RENT! It’s a matter of priorities. If you need help, ask for it, but don’t demand that someone else pay your bills.
where are their friends & family in their time of need ? feeling charitable/altruistic ? take them in & pay their bills with your in depth knowledge of their circumstances. loan them YOUR $$ QUAKER ‘FRIEND’.
If you help them, will they come? If not, will they go where someone will? The more homeless you subsidize, will the more homeless you have? Should people with big houses let the homeless stay with them free? Should we stop buying $10 cups of coffee and worthless junk and give the money to the homeless? Should we give all of our money to the government to spend or waste or steal as it pleases? If I give all my money/assets to the homeless and become homeless, will society give me a home?
Let us have “the conversation”.
altruists always lose something in the ‘transaction’ & have something to lose.
Finally, after years of reading, watching, volunteering I think the question finally comes to mind and I do not know the answer. Whose responsibility is it to help the unhoused. Something to ponder and likely a controversial question but one that has finally comes to mind to my head. Maybe it will come to the mind of others. Maybe time to really think through things a bit.
Great question, Sun.
I would think it the responsibility of the community as a whole hence the value of tax dollars being requested as part of the solution as preventing homelessness is likely cheaper than dealing with homelessness.
Chris,
That sounds somewhat like socialism.
‘sheltering’ is cheap n easy – think camping. ‘housing’ is what’s demanded. barracks could be afforded ?
I live in Tennessee, I know Greensboro likes to give away money, do they have any programs that help Tennesseans pay their property tax or their electric bill or anything like that ❓
No, but y’all did have the cajones for the “Battle of Athens”! But low T rules now.
Weird question.
I live in Greensboro and need to know if their is a progressive group that can give me some money to pay off my mortgage. I’m a senior, 74 years old, partially handicapped. I don’t know if it makes any difference but I’m of the white race.
sell that mansion & it’s acreage that houses only one or two people & find something smaller & more economical or live with acquaintances in denser ‘families’. loose some independence & privacy while < the cost of 'caregiving' . or live in a rolling can that clusters in can villages connected by concrete/asphalt roads. pray for shade. queue living ?
I was a Small Claims Court Judge for many years at the turn of the century, and I can tell you about one problem that arises in housing.
Taxes.
When an old couple in the nursing home rely on the income from the home they had to leave to pay their way in the Peepee Palace find their taxes on the old homestead raised to outrageous levels that have nothing to do with anything other than than inflation in real estate values, what do they have to do? Raise the rent on the old place to outrageous levels.
And when the pipes burst in cold weather, their options are limited to zero. And they become “slum landlords”, despised by all, especially by a tenant who left the outside hose attached during the freeze.
When a government stops paying attention to the basic needs of its constituents and lavishes largesse on its pet political and social projects instead, all hell breaks loose.
Simple.
In the case where a landlord cannot pay to upkeep an investment property, they should sell. That way they have additional funds to invest in the market for income (market returns counter inflation) and the new owner can invest in the property the minimum to maintain the structure. There is no sense in keeping a non-liquid asset when you live on a fixed income for the exact scenario you lay out. That is just common sense unless you have held the property without maintaining for so long that it has lost so much of its value and you have negative equity growth.
Now it is a different story for people on a fixed income who own a home as a primary residence they can’t afford to keep up the maintenance. There are other non-profit charities for help them….
i don’t own a box. why should my taxes pay for someone else’s box ?
It’s selfish for you to want to keep the money you worked for, but for some reason, it’s not selfish for people who didn’t work for it to want the government to take it from you and give it to them. Maybe our resident mushy-headed liberal can explain why that is.
One reason to avoid selling the property is the taxes on the gain. So you have less to invest. Another reason to keep the house is it provides a steady return and values don’t fluctuate as much as financial markets. It can have a much more steady and reliable return. Of course, it depends on the rental and the owner’s situation.
fixed income ! boo hoo ! some people have NO income & MOST who have income have to work buttzoff every day to earn that income then to purchase wisely while parasites pick @ their bones as buzzards circle.
many in dire straights wish they owned an asset they could sell or rent to generate income. the ‘asset’ home was insufficient to cover the nursing home ‘liability’ even if it was properly managed ? their house should have appreciated in value – why didn’t it ? sauvy landlords remove hose bibbs @ ‘problem’ structures or remove hoses themselves ( or the tenants ).
Hey American Believer you said Chris slings arrows not true he slings a lot of BS.
Nobody helped me or my father or my grandfather or both my sons to pay rent or mortgages
my WWII (normandy 3rd wave) dad benefited from copious GI bill edu & mortgage assist while his irish immigrant mother collected SS after only a few years of contributions. i enjoyed GI bill edu, life saving VA hospital care, fed military pension & primo locally subsidized housing (pomona) while mother n i attended college. i am a retired USCG officer. did you get what u have given ?
Louisville has double the population of Greensboro.
Cincinnati has a similar population.
Louisville spent $400,000 alone on solid waste removal from homeless encampments in 2023, down from $600,000 in 2022.
They’ve begun a $58 million “campus” to house the homeless, funded by state, local, and tax-funded charitable organizations, which should be finished in 2027. No mention is made of how many people or families the facility is expected to house, but there will be “a health clinic, transitional housing for young adults, food services and an office for Louisville Metro Police.
The campus will also include a playground, activity courtyard and family lawn,”…
“Rep. Rachel Roarx, D-Louisville, said the campus is ‘a great step in addressing one of our most important issues’ in her county.
‘It’s not only about housing,’ she said. ‘It’s about providing critical services in one place that truly wraps around an entire individual, young person, family and sets them on a path to stable housing in the future.'” (which I suppose explains why they don’t give numbers regarding how many people will be housed.)
(BTW, there were around 10,640 people who needed housing in 2021, and 3,724 who only needed services. However, in August of 2024, “the Department of Justice said Louisvillians needed better access to community based services to end a cycle of over-policing as a solution to mental health crises.”)
{Kentucky Lantern, More than shelter, campus to provide ‘wrap around’ care to a growing population in Louisville: ‘The greatest problem today is the number of families who are unhoused’ By: Sarah Ladd – September 10, 2024 5:14 pm}
I didn’t bother to look up Cincinnati’s info, I think this makes the point. This isn’t about the “unhoused”; this is about following the Newsom socialist agenda regarding policing, socialism, government paying for everything to make people dependent, taxing/penalizing everything that works or makes a profit, spending more to increase budgets, taxing more to justify spending more. All the while, they villify the people who make the money and pay the taxes, those who are tasked with upholding the law, those who employ the taxpayers, those who offer rentals to low-income tenants, and those who attempt to bring security during chaos because “it’s all mostly peaceful, like after a pro game”.
the uncultured the ‘other’ roma travelers gypsies tribes clans skin heads theocrats lamas hermits ascetics monks imams bishops taylor swifties form enclaves & try to ‘segregate’ while guvmnts try to homogenize them to < conflict & promote some cohesion in prep for WW3 ? i predict gated communities will become de rigueur & everywhere else . . . beyond the pale . safe travel will be by convoy only.