More emergency rent assistance is expected for Mecklenburg County in the new federal relief package, at a time when initial COVID-19 housing aid was running out locally and across North Carolina.
The next relief bill, which President Donald Trump signed late Sunday, includes $25 billion in emergency rent assistance, of which North Carolina is expected to get $700 million. It also extends the federal eviction moratorium one month, until Jan. 31, and would provide for stimulus checks to individuals and parents.
Landlord and tenant groups alike said rent relief is crucial. A second surge of coronavirus infections is underway in Charlotte and in North Carolina, with Mecklenburg adding well over 600 daily new cases on average. Advocates for months have warned a wave of evictions is looming, particularly for low-wage workers in industries hard hit by the pandemic.
“This is exactly what we need,” Samuel Gunter, executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition, told The News & Observer. “When it comes to the crisis that we’re seeing on the housing front, and making sure folks have stable housing, I think this is unqualified good news.”
Kim Graham, executive director of the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, said it is is especially helpful for Charlotte-area landlords, because part of the rental aid is designated for cities with at least 200,000 people.
“The federal government understood and heard that we can’t have a moratorium on evictions without rental assistance going directly to landlords, and so I think that that’s great,” she said.
The new funding comes as much of the initial federal COVID-19 relief for housing was running out in Mecklenburg and across North Carolina.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (Charlotte Observer) – More emergency rent assistance is expected for Mecklenburg County in the new federal relief package, at a time when initial COVID-19 housing aid was running out locally and across North Carolina.
The next relief bill, which President Donald Trump signed late Sunday, includes $25 billion in emergency rent assistance, of which North Carolina is expected to get $700 million. It also extends the federal eviction moratorium one month, until Jan. 31, and would provide for stimulus checks to individuals and parents.
Landlord and tenant groups alike said rent relief is crucial. A second surge of coronavirus infections is underway in Charlotte and in North Carolina, with Mecklenburg adding well over 600 daily new cases on average. Advocates for months have warned a wave of evictions is looming, particularly for low-wage workers in industries hard hit by the pandemic.
“This is exactly what we need,” Samuel Gunter, executive director of the North Carolina Housing Coalition, told The News & Observer. “When it comes to the crisis that we’re seeing on the housing front, and making sure folks have stable housing, I think this is unqualified good news.”
Kim Graham, executive director of the Greater Charlotte Apartment Association, said it is is especially helpful for Charlotte-area landlords, because part of the rental aid is designated for cities with at least 200,000 people.
“The federal government understood and heard that we can’t have a moratorium on evictions without rental assistance going directly to landlords, and so I think that that’s great,” she said.
The new funding comes as much of the initial federal COVID-19 relief for housing was running out in Mecklenburg and across North Carolina.
EVICTION MORATORIUM
The eviction moratorium, enacted earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, covers a broad swath of American renters who have had pandemic-related financial hardship.
The CDC moratorium does not prevent all evictions, just those for tenants with a COVID-19 related income loss or illness who sign an affidavit stating they cannot pay their rent balance and have “used best efforts” to seek out financial assistance.
Landlords can still pursue evictions for other reasons, including lease violations not tied to missed payments.
In North Carolina, however, nonessential in-person court activity has been paused until Jan. 14 as the judicial system attempts to slow growing COVID-19 cases in court staff statewide. That means in Mecklenburg, eviction hearings will be rescheduled for mid-January at the earliest.
The closure does not affect landlords’ ability to file for eviction, according to a court spokeswoman.
Applications for rent payment assistance through the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Housing Partnership will reopen Jan. 1.
Through late December the nonprofit had approved applications for more than 4,600 households for a combined $12 million in rent, mortgage, utilities and hotel payments, funded largely from federal COVID-19 relief allocated by the city and county.
The vast majority of that money — more than $11 million — went to rent payments.
Just before Congress’ recent approval, Pam Wideman, Charlotte’s housing and neighborhood services director, said in an interview she was hopeful another federal relief package would include housing assistance.
The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates North Carolina could get around $700 million in rent relief from the federal bill. In November the state closed applications for rent relief through its HOPE program after exhausting $117 million in federal aid.
Wideman said additional federal funding for rent relief could be used locally to easily refill the existing program, without the upstart work in the spring when aid money was brand new.
“Our programs have proven to work really well,” she said. “We can just continue to infuse the money (into existing programs). There’s a huge need for relief, particularly for rent.”
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