If you have tried to rent recently,
you know how hard it is to
get in that market. Right now.
There's lots of competition for units.
Supply is limited.
Prices keep going up. It is put.
Potential renters and tenants in a
bind nationwide and right here at home.
It's important to know that
there is help available.
Josie Williams with the Guilford
Housing Coalition is here today to
help you navigate through that process.
She's answering questions about rent issues,
what to do if you get an eviction notice,
how you can get help with making the rent.
Here's how you get your questions to her.
You text us those questions.
That number is
336-379-5775. All of the questions
are anonymous and you get your
question answered in real time.
All right first and foremost,
let's kind of just do a big picture.
Right now we're looking at housing prices
that are high rent prices that are high.
Hey Jose, can we talk about
that the housing prices and
the rent prices that are high?
Yeah, we see across our state.
UM, just as we see the mirror
image going on within our city,
the rental prices here within
Greensboro is has definitely gone beyond
the reach of our normal consumer.
We are seeing people because of the
high rate of increase of people who
are being forced to look for other
housing and unfortunately a lot
of that housing that they need for
our most vulnerable populations.
It simply does not exist.
Simply does not exist, yes, I mean,
so we have heard some people
say that they have gotten their
new lease from their landlord
and it's doubled the rent.
So if it's double the rent,
what do you do?
And is that even legal?
You know it's a catch 22.
It is legal for a property
owner to raise the rent,
but when we're talking about raising the
rent double within a short period of time,
we're talking 3060 days.
Is it ethical or moral? No.
Is it completely necessary?
In many cases, we don't believe so.
We know that property
owners can raise the rent,
especially if they're doing renovations.
They're trying to get it up to market value.
But we are trying to work with
those property owners in such a way,
so it's more reasonable for the tenant.
Maybe you could do a staggered
approach to raising the rent,
but for some such as our elderly population,
our most vulnerable households are
low income renters raising the rent
more than double within a 60 day
time stand or a 30 day time stands.
It's forcing people out of their
homes and forcing them at a
closer risk of being homeless.
So this is a problem that's
nationwide and it's a problem
that we're seeing here for sure.
In the triad, there are some ways to
get some help with rental assistance,
so can we talk a little bit about that?
Because we know that there was a
big push for rental assistance.
You know, a year and a half ago.
A lot of that money has gone by the wayside,
but there are still helps out there.
Yeah, there's still some help in some
programs that still available our agency.
The Greensboro Housing Coalition.
We are processing the applications
that were in the pipeline.
If you will, the city of Greensboro,
as you know, has closed that portal.
However, the Guilford County
Cares program is still active,
so processing is still
going on with that program.
And people are still applying
through that program. Also,
our one of our partners where fair reform.
Project they actually are able
to assist in some capacity.
It may not be to the degree that the
city of Greensboro program or the
Guilford Cares program is able to do,
but they do have some money left that
they are able to assist in some capacity
for some of our at risk households.
So you are still able to apply
and then many other counties
will have that same thing.
So if you're not here in Guilford County,
there are other ways to
apply for that as well.
Alright, so we get emails all the
time about folks who are facing a
eviction or fearful of facing eviction
if they are in that situation,
what is the best thing to tell them?
If they are at risk of eviction,
it is best to notify, UHM.
North Carolina legal aid.
Sooner than later we do have an
eviction resolution program where
we work with North want to legal
aid to assist in case mediation.
If you are facing eviction,
also oftentimes you may think
that it is impossible to get
beyond the eviction notice,
but many times if we can work with the
landlord and get payment to the landlord,
he will dismiss the case keeping you housed.
That's why it's so important that
as soon as you get the notice to
notify someone as soon as possible
and then also talk to the property
owner landlord to see if they would
work out a payment plan with you.
We have landlords that have worked
with our tenants in many cases and
work with payment arrangements while
they get more stable or while they
are waiting on the rental assistance.
But the key is don't wait,
do it sooner than later
and we're going to continue to talk.
About this, like what do you do
if there's repairs in your place
that you think need to be done?
Can you withhold rent?
How do you go about asking for repairs?
How do you go about asking for what she
was just talking about that payment plan?
How do you start that conversation?
We're going to talk about that and
take your questions coming up.