It used to be that, when a landlord wanted to get rid of a non-paying tenant who wouldn’t leave, he or she would just grab a tool box and remove the front and back doors of the house and that usually did the trick.
Today, that’s illegal and the law leans much more in the tenant’s favor – so disputes like that can run on and on, sometimes even lasting a year with no rent being paid.
Guilford County government has decided to continue, at least until June of 2024, a joint program of Guilford County and the University of North Carolina Greensboro (UNCG) that aims to work out problems between landlords and tenants so that renters can stay in their homes and property owners can get paid.
The program is meant “to address the needs of vulnerable, low-income communities experiencing housing instability and potential evictions.”
On Thursday, Sept. 7, the Board of Commissioners is scheduled to tweak the existing contract that runs to next summer. One change is the addition of language that allows for the mutual termination of the agreement – however, both sides seem committed to the program that’s being funded with American Rescue Plan (ARP) money. The ARP provided a flood of federal money to state and local governments with the intent that the money be used to address hardships caused by pandemic restrictions.
The cost of running the anti-eviction program is about $725,000 a year. In Guilford County, roughly $2.3 million of ARP funds went to eviction mediation programs, and the remaining balance for that purpose is currently just over $1 million.
In recent years, Guilford County – along with the cities of Greensboro and High Point – has been active in attempting to address the problem of homelessness, and preventing evictions is of course one way to do that.
The eviction mediation and counseling program uses strategies such as housing and financial counseling to guide tenants through options in order to address non-payment of rent. The program also often connects struggling renters with existing resources in the community.
From November 2022 to June 2023, UNCG has held 102 eviction clinic days in the court system – working with a community partner specializing in legal aid – and, together, they provided more than 2,280 households with eviction mediation, rental assistance, or referrals to other services.
During that seven-month period, there were 6,278 evictions on the county’s court docket on the days the clinic was in court. Of those cases, about 30 percent were dismissed by the court or the landlord – and an additional 18 percent were continued to a later date.
Also during that period, UNC-G has had 258 one-on-one discussions with landlords.
We know what this really is.
You read my mind…
R-E-P-A-R-A-T-I-O-N-S
I’d even wager my left testicle that no one paying for it has ever owned a slave and no one receiving it has ever been one.
If I don’t pay my mortgage or car payment, they are taken away. No difference with renters. If you can’t make rent payments go stay at salvation army or open the coliseum for the homeless. At least it will get some use,
Not necessarily true, my friend. As a renter who paid on time for over twenty years, I was contemptuously evicted despite the apartment community consisting of nearly 500 units, nearly 400 of them vacant. Worse, when I sought assistance, no one cared. Thus, being in my 60’s, they were able to evict me and retain all of my possessions. After years of trying to get help, the Department of Social Services said, “It’s wrong but it’s not illegal.” As if that was supposed to make me feel better.
It’s great to see the county taking positive steps to reduce homelessness in our community.
I figure this will not help the housing situation in Greensboro. If I were a landlord there is no way I would rent my property or home under this. The landlord will always be the looser in this situation.