Dr. Stephen Sills (Center for Housing and Community Studies) received new funding from Community Foundation of Greater Greensboro for the project Greensboro COVID-19 Eviction Crisis Mediation Project.”
Prior to COVID-19, half of renters (47.7%) in Greensboro were considered “cost-burdened,” spending more than 30% of their income on housing-related expenses (ACS 2014-2018). This meant that 27,340 households were one car-repair, one hospitalization, or pandemic layoff away from being evicted from their homes.
The rate of evictions for Greensboro was already 6.1% higher than the nation and Greensboro was ranked #7 in the nation and #1 in the state in a good economy. July 2020 data for Greensboro from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that we have shot up from under 4% unemployment to over 14%, displacing over 30,000 workers from our local economy. While officials instituted housing protection legislation during the COVID-19 crisis to prevent evictions, that protection has partially lapsed and not all qualify under the current moratorium.
UNCG CHCS and our community partners – the Greensboro Housing Coalition, Legal Aid of North Carolina, Elon Law School, and the City of Greensboro Human Relations Department – are trying to get in front of this issue by providing mediation between landlords seeking overdue rent and tenants facing eviction. This project will assist tenants in navigating existing and new community support while also matching disputing parties with trained mediators and instruments to reach timely resolution of their cases. The researchers’ goal is to preserve tenancy, reduce cost-burden, and assure landlords of being reimbursed for rental arrears.
