Recently, Orange County Government moved to approve the budget for its Eviction Diversion Program. Once officially adopted, this program will help eligible Orange County residents avoid eviction, address substandard housing conditions and maintain the affordable housing supply.

This program comes at a time where the number of requests for emergency housing assistance more than quadrupled in April. At this time, a large majority of requests are coming from low-income residents who have been out of work due to COVID-19 and business closures. The Urban Institute estimates that more than 5,000 Orange County residents lost employment due to COVID-19.

In February, Orange County led the state with the lowest unemployment rate of 2.9 percent but because of COVID-19, Orange County’s unemployment rate in March increased to 3.4 percent. With this rise in unemployment, Orange County Government has seen a big increase in requests for housing assistance.

Since January, over $70,000 dollars in assistance has been funded. There are approximately $53,000 dollars in Emergency Housing Assistance funds remaining, but with new requests coming in every day, Orange County Government said that estimate changes daily.

Orange County Commissioner Penny Rich said the program will officially be approved on June 2 now that some funds have been reallocated.

“So that’s something that’s going to be able to help folks to at least stay in their apartments or homes for maybe one or two months but we really need to think about how we can fund that moving forward,” Rich said.

As courts prepare to reopen around the county, Rich said that will be another stressor for those facing eviction.

Orange County Government said the Clerk of Court’s Office has seen a dramatic increase in eviction filings and is now adding additional court hearing dates. To combat this, the Eviction Diversion Program would bring together Legal Aid of North Carolina and pro bono attorneys to represent tenants in court and to act as court mediators – negotiating agreements between tenants and landlords to avoid eviction.

For more information on Orange County Government and the Eviction Diversion Program, click here.

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