North Carolina’s government recently launched a new rental assistance program called NC HOPE to aid those struggling to pay rent and utility costs amid the coronavirus pandemic. On Wednesday, Governor Roy Cooper announced another step to helping North Carolinians in need stay in their homes.

Cooper signed a new executive order adding protections against eviction onto a moratorium recently passed by the Centers for Disease Control, which put a nationwide hold on evictions through December 31, 2020. The governor said his order addresses some of the confusion caused by who the federal order protects and how it is enforced, detailing specific requirements landlords will need to follow at the start of 2021. The order also clarifies people using the NC HOPE program to directly pay landlords and utility companies still qualify for the CDC’s moratorium.

“Roughly 300,000 to 400,000 households across North Carolina are currently unable to pay rent,” Cooper said a Wednesday’s press briefing. “Without today’s action, almost a quarter of a million eviction filings could be submitted by January 2021.”

Cooper enacted an initial statewide eviction moratorium toward the beginning of the pandemic, but the measure only lasted through June 23. Until the CDC moratorium went into effect on September 4, thousands of eviction filings were made against North Carolinians, including 74 filings in Orange County and 38 in Chatham County, according to the North Carolina News Collaborative.

“Many families are trying to do the right thing,” said Cooper. “They’re having to make tough choices, but this virus has made it difficult.”

The new executive order requires landlords to make residential tenants aware of their rights under the CDC moratorium and give residents options to fill out a declaration form before starting any eviction action. Cooper also said the measure will establish procedures to protect residential tenants once they provide the required declaration form.

With this clarification in place, as well as North Carolinians having access to the $117 million rental assistance program, the North Carolina governor said it should help all parties make it through 2020 despite the ongoing challenges COVID-19 presents.

“The result during this global pandemic will be more North Carolinians staying in their homes, more landlords getting paid rent and fewer utility companies shutting off their power,” said Cooper Wednesday. “That’s a good thing.”

Cooper’s full executive order can be found on the state government’s website.

Photo via the North Carolina Department of Public Safety.

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