Last week, Durham City Council debated a tenant protection ordinance during its work session. Modeled after an ordinance in Charlotte, it would prohibit landlords from collecting rent if a housing unit has “imminently dangerous conditions,” such as unsafe drinking water, severe pest infestation, or no functioning toilet. In Charlotte, legal aid attorneys use this ordinance every day to help low-income renters defend themselves against eviction and improve the living standards in their homes.
According to a 2022 Community Health Assessment Survey, affordable housing is the number one concern of residents living in Durham County. At least 46.9 percent of people living in Durham are cost-burdened, meaning that they spend more than 30 percent of their total income on housing. The eviction rate in Durham is high: 15.7 per every 100 households each year. The City of Durham already recognized this problem by passing the $95 million Affordable Housing Bond in 2019 and investing in the Eviction Diversion Program, which provides legal resources to families facing eviction.
But Durham can and should do more to assist low-income residents. By passing this ordinance, we can give tenants and their attorneys a powerful tool to enforce basic standards of habitability in their homes and even the playing field in eviction court. We just have to follow the lead of three other North Carolina municipalities: Charlotte, Pittsboro, and Pineville…