Tenant advocacy organizations call for 90-day ‘pause’ on evictions in disaster counties

Tenant advocacy organizations across North Carolina are calling on Gov. Roy Cooper and Chief Justice Paul Newby to enact an emergency moratorium blocking evictions and foreclosures in the wake of Hurricane Helene.

The NC Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network (NCIDR) and the NC Housing Coalition penned a letter to Cooper and Newby urging them to “prevent evictions and foreclosures in areas of the state impacted by Hurricane Helene for 90 days.” The group has asked for a response to its letter within 24 hours. Cooper had not responded by the time this story was published. NC Newsline has reached out to the governor’s office for a response to the letter.

“The use of eviction and foreclosure moratoriums has precedent in related executive actions undertaken after recent disasters,” NCIDR said in its Oct. 15 letter. “After COVID-19, we were very thankful that the State of North Carolina acted quickly to invoke an eviction moratorium to ensure that North Carolinians did not face displacement or homelessness.”

NCIDR is a statewide coalition of more than 300 organizations. It was founded in 2016 following Hurricane Matthew to work “collaboratively toward a disaster recovery system where all impacted communities can fully recover,” the group states on its website.

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Read the sign-on letters from local organizations to the Chief District Court Judge for Buncombe County, which was based on statutory analysis by our partners at the NC Justice Center here.