With moratorium over, evictions creep back up

Paul B. Johnson, The High Point Enterprise, N.C.
·3 min read

Feb. 18—HIGH POINT — Housing advocate Bruce Rich and his associates want to keep evictions in High Point and across Guilford County from getting back to the levels before coronavirus pandemic moratoriums put a temporary hold on people ending up on the street.

When COVID-19 emerged as a pervasive threat in March 2020, elected leaders across the country placed holds on evictions. In Guilford County, the eviction moratoriums were phased out through the late summer of 2021.

So far, evictions haven't skyrocketed as housing advocates feared heading into 2022, said Rich, director of the UNC Greensboro Center for Housing & Community Studies, which works to prevent evictions from taking place. One of the reasons may be that federal COVID-19 relief money to states and communities has given renters a financial cushion to avoid eviction.

"There were massive amounts of rental assistance that continued after the moratoriums ended," he said. "Cash emergency rental assistance certainly forestalled some evictions."

But evictions are creeping back up.

"Early indications are that the number of eviction filings in High Point so far in 2023 exceed the same-period number for 2022 and are on pace to reach pre-pandemic levels of over 4,000 for the year," Rich said.

The same trend appears to be taking place statewide. The News & Observer of Raleigh reported earlier this month that eviction cases in 2022 rose sharply to the highest level since 2019.

"I'm confident that what we are finding in High Point is probably happening elsewhere," Rich told The Enterprise. "It looks like we are coming back to pre-pandemic levels."

Rich said he suspects that there may be tenants locally who are being evicted for amounts ranging from $200 to $500.

"It seems like too small an amount to make it worth throwing a family out, but it happens," he said.

Guilford County Sheriff Danny Rogers, whose agency handles evictions, said the pace of evictions in the county has been uneven since the moratoriums were lifted.

"One week we may have more than 80 evictions, the next week we may have 40," Rogers said. "It's back and forth. We just hope the renters and landlords can work it out."

Rich said that a program through his organization, backed by Guilford County leaders, is keeping renters from losing their homes. The program mediates between landlords and renters to preclude evictions. Housing advocates meet with renters and provide referrals to assistance programs. They also hold eviction prevention clinic days at the courthouses in High Point and Greensboro in partnership with Legal Aid of North Carolina.

Housing advocates review court dockets regularly to identify renters who face eviction, then intervene to try to prevent the process from proceeding. In some cases the intervention takes place in court at a hearing.

This past October, the Guilford County Board of Commissioners extended the program with the UNC Greensboro Center for Housing & Community Service. The commissioners approved an eight-month extension of the contract with the UNC Greensboro Center for Housing & Community Service with an appropriation of $475,916.

Rich said the program is making a difference.

"Showing up at the courthouse with lawyers, mediators, resource navigators and access to rental assistance funds catches a lot of cases at the last minute that otherwise would have gone through straight to judgment," Rich said.

pjohnson@hpenews.com — 336-888-3528 — @HPEpaul