Eviction in Guilford County reached 'almost to crisis proportions' before the pandemic. That's why this new program is more important than ever

HIGH POINT, N.C. — A partnership in High Point is working to keep people in their homes, especially during the pandemic.

UNC Greensboro’s Housing and Community Studies Program is partnering with the Foundation for a Healthy High Point on the Eviction Mediation Program.

“Eviction has long been a problem in Guilford, almost to crisis proportions. We at the center have been involved in eviction research and resolution for several years.” Bruce Rich said. Rich is the project director at the Center for Housing and Community Studies at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.

That’s the basis behind the program, to create a way to provide assistance to the tenants at risk of eviction and connect them with resources to address underlying issues to break the cycle of evictions.

The program started in Greensboro in 2020 as a partnership between UNC Greensboro and North Carolina Legal Aid and the Greensboro Housing Coalition. Shortly after it started, the pandemic also began. Rich said the pandemic added to the crisis the groups were already trying to address.

At the beginning of 2021, UNC Greensboro and the Foundation for a Healthy High Point announced the program would extend out to High Point as well. The foundation pledged $30,000 to make it happen.

The executive director for the Foundation for a Healthy High Point, Curtis Holloman, said this was an important program to add here because eviction is a health issue for the community, especially during the pandemic.

“We know in general that having a place to stay creates safety. It can also reduce the impact in terms of chronic displacement. So housing, in general, is very important, and we see this as one of our responses to COVID,” Holloman said.

Holloman says 2016 data from Princeton Eviction Lab showed that, in High Point, three people a day were at risk from eviction. They say from there, the situation has gotten worse, particularly from the pandemic. With this program, they hope to help 200 families stay in their homes.

The program can also lessen the strain on the court system by avoiding the eviction process and finding middle ground through mediation instead. And while this is good for the tenants, it can also help the landlords too.

“It’s a win-win for landlords homeowners to resolve. It’s also very empowering for individuals to really resolve issues themselves and work things out so that they’re maintaining a place to stay,” Holloman said.

There’s some additional help right now to the program as well thanks to the CDC’s moratorium on evictions. The temporary ban is set to expire on March 31.

The North Carolina Judicial Branch says, “Beginning on September 4, 2020, landlords are not permitted to move forward with evictions of ‘covered persons’ due to non-payment or late payment of rent, similar housing-related payments, late fees, penalties or interest until after March 31, 2021. This moratorium is in place pursuant to an Order by the CDC published in the Federal Register on September 4, 2020.” 

It also says landlords who try to evict a covered person can face fines or a jail sentence.

Rich says the moratorium is helping bring more landlords to the table since they don’t have eviction as an option right now.

“But with the moratorium, we’re able to say to the landlord, ‘You really don’t have available to you your normal go-to remedy. And wouldn’t you rather leverage the availability of much increased public resources to provide rental assistance to tenants and get the tenants back on track and in a stable tenancy and not have to worry about, ‘Can I race to the courthouse on the very day that never seems to arrive?’” Rich said.

Rich says while there are some landlords who are hesitant to join the mediation process, others see the benefits.

“Some landlords are amenable to the mediation process because sometimes landlords and tenants don’t very don’t do very well on their own communicating the problems, and if it doesn’t cost anything to the landlord to let somebody take a swing at it, why not?” he said.

Ultimately, this program is meant to create long-term solutions for the renters and the landlords, which Rich says helps the entire community.

“We think it’s a benefit to the community at large to reduce the number of evictions and maintain the tenants and stable housing,” he said.

If you or someone else could benefit from the UNCG Tenant Mediation Program, call (336) 256-1499.

Source: Fox 8 News Channel