Housing Rights Activist to Deliver Eviction Notices to NC General Assembly

(Raleigh, NC – September 3, 2020) – Today at 1 p.m., housing rights activists will gather at the NC Legislative Building to deliver eviction notices to the legislators of the General Assembly. Directly impacted community members will speak out about their experiences and to protest the General Assembly’s ongoing failure to provide adequate relief during the biggest eviction crisis the U.S. has ever faced. Housing is a human right.

The COVID-19 pandemic has wreaked havoc on the national economy, with 57.3 million workers filing for unemployment over the past five months. As many as 40 million people could be displaced from their homes in the next several months. In North Carolina 542,000 renter households are experiencing rent shortfall and potentially face eviction and homelessness.

The recently announced nationwide eviction moratorium by the CDC still leaves many people vulnerable and does nothing to address the financial cliff that renters and landlords will find themselves facing at the end of the year when the moratorium expires. HB 1105 which just passed in the NC Senate provides no relief for housing or utility payments as we enter the fall and winter months and as the pandemic and economic downturn continue to bring unprecedented hardship to North Carolina families.

“We have been fighting eviction and the cycle of displacement our community faces daily before the pandemic and will continue to fight for our community during and after. Displacement is state violence.” Apryl Lewis, Action North Carolina.

The demonstration and press conference is being organized by Action NC, NC Housing Justice Coalition, and housing advocacy groups across North Carolina including Advance North Carolina.