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Many Tenants Still At Risk Despite Eviction Moratorium

WUNC | By Anita Rao,
Kaia Findlay
Published November 19, 2020 at 12:01 PM EST
An eviction moratorium is in place until the end of the year, but thousands of North Carolina tenants are still at risk of losing their homes.
An eviction moratorium is in place until the end of the year, but thousands of North Carolina tenants are still at risk of losing their homes.
An eviction moratorium is in place until the end of the year, but thousands of North Carolina tenants are still at risk of losing their homes.
Credit 70023venus2009 / Flickr / CC
An eviction moratorium is in place until the end of the year, but thousands of North Carolina tenants are still at risk of losing their homes.

A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention eviction moratorium protects North Carolina tenants from evictions until the end of the year. Any tenant can provide their landlord with a declaration form that attests they are unable to pay their rent and at risk of homelessness.

Host Anita Rao talks with WUNC data reporter Jason deBruyn about updates to the eviction crisis in North Carolina.

To give further aid to people facing eviction, Governor Roy Cooper’s Executive Order 171made it mandatory for landlords to provide tenants facing eviction with blank copies of the CDC declaration form. More than 37,000 people have also applied for his rent and utility assistance program, NC HOPE. But advocates are concerned that thousands of tenants are still at risk of losing their homes because landlords refuse to maintain the property or refrain from renewing tenants’ leases. These are not classified as evictions for data purposes. Host Anita Rao talks with Jason deBruyn, WUNC data reporter and a member of the NC Watchdog Reporting Network, about eviction numbers in the state, solutions in place and ongoing challenges. WUNC's Caitlin Leggett and Celeste Gracia also contributed to this reporting by the NC Watchdog Reporting Network on evictions.

Copyright 2020 North Carolina Public Radio
Anita Rao
Anita Rao is the host and creator of "Embodied," a live, weekly radio show and seasonal podcast about sex, relationships & health. She's also the managing editor of WUNC's on-demand content. She has traveled the country recording interviews for the Peabody Award-winning StoryCorps production department, founded and launched a podcast about millennial feminism in the South, and served as the managing editor and regular host of "The State of Things," North Carolina Public Radio's flagship daily, live talk show. Anita was born in a small coal-mining town in Northeast England but spent most of her life growing up in Iowa and has a fond affection for the Midwest.
See stories by Anita Rao
Kaia Findlay
Kaia Findlay is a producer for The State of Things, WUNC's daily, live talk show. Kaia grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in a household filled with teachers and storytellers. In elementary school, she usually fell asleep listening to recordings of 1950s radio comedy programs. After a semester of writing for her high school newspaper, she decided she hated journalism. While pursuing her bachelor’s in environmental studies at UNC-Chapel Hill, she got talked back into it. Kaia received a master’s degree from the UNC Hussman School of Journalism, where she focused on reporting and science communication. She has published stories with Our State Magazine, Indy Week, and HuffPost. She most recently worked as the manager for a podcast on environmental sustainability and higher education. Her reporting passions include climate and the environment, health and science, food and women’s issues. When not working at WUNC, Kaia goes pebble-wrestling, takes long bike rides, and reads while hammocking.
See stories by Kaia Findlay