Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Law

Despite Low Unemployment, Evictions Plague Asheville: One Nonprofit Offers Help:

map of evictions in greensboro
Courtesy of Stephen Sills

There were an estimated 2,200 evictions in Buncombe County last year, according to reporting from The Asheville Citizen-Times. This statistic has many wondering: With Asheville’s booming economy and the historically low unemployment rate, why are its residents struggling to pay rent?

The Asheville-based nonprofit Pisgah Legal Services looked into the numbers and discovered that out of 2,200 evictions filed in 2016, 1,300 evictions were granted leaving about 3,000 people displaced. Many of their clients are single moms juggling work, children, and family while trying to pay rent, childcare and basic living expenses. Through working one-on-one with clients, the nonprofit identified one of the central barriers to tenants keeping a roof over their heads: landlords seeking an eviction can complete the process in 20 days, which leaves little time for tenants to find a new home and secure the needed move-in costs. To curb this problem, they created the Tenant Eviction Response program, which offers on-the-spot assistance for those at eviction court in Buncombe County. Host Frank Stasio talks about the program and Buncombe County’s housing crisis with Robin Merrell, managing attorney at Pisgah Legal Services, which provides free representation to low-income families in need of civil legal services.

Stay Connected
Dana is an award-winning producer who began as a personality at Rock 92. Once she started creating content for morning shows, she developed a love for producing. Dana has written and produced for local and syndicated commercial radio for over a decade. WUNC is her debut into public radio and she’s excited to tell deeper, richer stories.
Longtime NPR correspondent Frank Stasio was named permanent host of The State of Things in June 2006. A native of Buffalo, Frank has been in radio since the age of 19. He began his public radio career at WOI in Ames, Iowa, where he was a magazine show anchor and the station's News Director.