NEWS & OPINION FEATURE
provides no relief for housing or utility payments property owner to be considered protected under evictions that is this broad and this all-encompassing. as we enter the fall and winter months and as the the moratorium. Tenants must sign off that they It does seem like an extraordinary move by the pandemic and economic downturn continue to meet all of the following requirements: income is federal government,” Sturgill said. “There’s a lot of bring unprecedented hardship to North Carolina less than $99,000, did not have to pay income tax hope for tenants who are facing eviction but also families.” in 2019, and/or received a stimulus check; unable a lot of logistically trying to scramble to figure out, HB 1105, known also as Coronavirus Relief Act to pay rent due to income loss or extraordinary out- how is this going to work? How are these protections 3.0, passed through the N.C. House and, at the time of-pocket medical expenses; and would become going to work for everybody?” Why advocates say the of publication, is expected to be signed by Gov. Roy homeless or need to double-up (stay with friends or Some parts of the moratorium leave room for federal eviction moratorium Cooper. It does not include any new funding for family) if evicted. legal subjectivity, such as the question around isn’t enough rental or utility assistance, instead placing funds Tenants must also promise under oath in the people who live in hotels. In August, Queen City previously dedicated to such in a larger pool with a affidavit that they will continue to make partial Nerve spoke with Ethiopia Williams, who has lived BY RYAN PITKIN range of possible uses, according to NC Policy Watch. payments using their “best efforts” to do so “as the in a hotel with her 9-year-old daughter for two years House Bill 1200, which was filed in May and has individual’s circumstances may permit, taking into after an eviction on her record made it hard for her A new moratorium on evictions went into effect been languishing in committee since, would provide account other non-discretionary expenses.” to find housing despite working multiple jobs. nationwide on Friday, Sept. 4, and will last through $400 million to residents who have been impacted A tenant needs only to print out the affidavit, Sturgill pointed out that the order applies to December, but some local activists say without most by the COVID-19 crisis. which can be found in the moratorium order itself, renters on any residential property, house, building, financial relief to help renters apartment, mobile home, or land climb out of the hole caused by the that’s been rented. However, COVID-19 pandemic, a moratorium what’s in the cards for people who is not enough. live permanently in hotels? Housing rights activists with “The order does state that the Tenant Organizing Resource if you’re a ‘seasonal tenant’ or a Center (TORC) delivered their own guest at a hotel, this does not eviction notices to members of the protect you,” Sturgill said, “but North Carolina General Assembly families that live in hotels as their (NCGA) on Sept. 3, as community permanent residence may have members spoke about their own an argument that this does still experiences with eviction and apply.” protested the NCGA’s ongoing Sturgill said his team is failure to provide adequate relief working to clear up legal questions during the biggest eviction crisis like that and provide more in U.S. history. The previous day, information, including the order the group rallied in front of the itself and the affidavit needed Mecklenburg County Courthouse for tenants who want to claim its for the same cause. protections, on the Legal Aid of NC A statewide moratorium on website. evictions began in March and In the meantime, local ended on June 20. In Mecklenburg activists will continue to push for County, eviction proceedings, more relief on the ground for those known as summary ejectment affected most directly by the rent PHOTO BY JESSICA MORENO/ TORC hearings, resumed in July 20. HOUSING ADVOCATES OUTSIDE OF THE N.C. STATE LEGISLATIVE BUILDING ON SEPT. 3. shortfall. The new order does not offer Apryl Lewis, a Charlotteretroactive protections to people who have been However temporarily, the moratorium on then sign and deliver it to their landlord or property based housing advocate who spent much of 2019 evicted between the end of the first moratorium evictions will surely help many people who were owner. Landlords do not need to formally accept helping families being displaced from the Lake and the beginning of the next one, which is being at urgent risk of becoming homeless in September the affidavit, tenants only need to be able to show Arbor apartment complex in west Charlotte, helped enacted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). It’s and the coming months. Isaac Sturgill, managing that they have attempted to deliver it. Sturgill organize Thursday’s protest in Raleigh and explained estimated that 542,000 renter households in North attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina’s Housing recommended that any tenant who files an affidavit why in a release leading up to the action. Carolina are experiencing a rent shortfall. Practice Group, held a virtual press conference on make two copies, so as to have one for their own “We have been fighting eviction and the “The recently announced nationwide eviction Sept. 2 laying out the steps for tenants to apply for records. cycle of displacement our community faces daily moratorium by the CDC still leaves many people protections under the new moratorium. Sturgill said he was “floored” by the moratorium, before the pandemic and will continue to fight for vulnerable and does nothing to address the financial The moratorium does not automatically apply which was handed down by the CDC on Sept. 1, and our community during and after,” Lewis stated. cliff that renters and landlords will find themselves to all evictions, only those caused directly by the has not seen anything like it in his eight-year legal “Displacement is state violence.” facing at the end of the year when the moratorium COVID-19 pandemic. Tenants who meet certain career representing tenants. INFO@QCNERVE.COM expires,” read a press release from TORC. “[House requirements must file an affidavit with their “In my lifetime I have not seen a moratorium on Bill] 1105, which just passed in the N.C. Senate,
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KICKING THE CAN
