Greensboro’s Eviction Crisis

Posted on April 14, 2018

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Many cost-burdened renters in Guilford County are one car-repair, one hospitalization, or one high-utility bill away from being evicted from their homes. Data from the newly released Eviction Lab, the first national database of evictions, shows Greensboro as having the highest eviction rate of large cities in the state and the 7th highest eviction rate of large cities in the nation. On any given day in 2016, around 13 families were evicted from their homes.

Housing instability has been shown to affect health outcomes, children’s academic achievement, employment, and neighborhood vitality. Research from CHCS has shown that more than half of those evicted find themselves homeless for a period of time.

In our current collaborative effort to address this issue, UNCG Center for Housing and Community Studies (CHCS), UNCG Economics Department, UNCG Computer Sciences Department, and the UNCG Center for Youth, Family, and Community Studies have been working with the Greensboro Housing Coalition, the NC District Courts, local philanthropy, tenants, landlords, and Guilford County Government (through our MetroLab partnership) to develop a pilot program that will divert potential eviction cases from adjudication into mediation and case management, keeping tenants in their homes while addressing both landlord and tenant concerns.

The program is being developed with tenants and landlords as Co-Investigators to provide emergency financial assistance to avoid evictions due to inability to pay utilities or rent owed in a crisis situation, landlord-tenant mediation to defuse situations potentially leading to eviction, and Landlord and Tenant Education services to help both parties understand obligations and ensure that people remain successfully housed.

Read more about this issue in our Greensboro – Eviction Brief

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