NC lawmakers, frustrated over back rent, pitch change to help landlords

The idea sounds "common sense," but it's not feasible, a Cooper administration official says.

Posted 5:58 p.m. Aug 24, 2021 — Updated 8:24 p.m. Aug 27, 2021

Travis Fain

, WRAL statehouse reporter

RALEIGH, N.C. — Republican lawmakers pitched a bill Tuesday to let landlords, instead of just tenants, apply for federal rent assistance to boost interest in a $1.2 billion program in North Carolina.

The state-run HOPE program and related programs in North Carolina’s largest counties cover up to a year’s worth of rent for tenants who make 80 percent of their area’s median income or less. The programs have struggled at times to get enough applicants, despite concerns that, when the oft-extended federal eviction moratorium ends Oct. 3, the state will see a glut of evictions.

Sen. Chuck Edwards, R-Henderson, argued Tuesday that landlords should be able to apply on their tenants’ behalf, and he pasted language along those lines into House Bill 110. The bill was in the Senate Commerce and Insurance committee Tuesday for discussion only, though votes may come later this week.

Laura Hogshead, chief operating officer of the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resilience, which oversees the rental assistance program, told senators the change isn’t feasible.

“I do agree that it seems like common sense,” she said, before explaining federal rules require the tenant to attest they’ve been impacted by pandemic and that they haven’t received any other rental assistance.

“Things that we don’t think the landlord knows for certain,” Hogshead said.

Wrong number: To get help with rent, applicants struggle with confusing, complex processes

There’s also a software issue. Hogshead said it could take four to six weeks to add a landlord application option to the state’s computer system.

“I understand that it doesn’t make a lot of sense,” she told lawmakers.

Hogshead noted that the state added an option for landlords to refer tenants to the program in early August. She said that tenants avoiding their landlords because of unpaid rent often are willing to apply when the state calls and suggests it based on those referrals.

She said the state has approved $266 million so far in the program to 83,500 applicants, and roughly $200 million of that has actually been paid. She said North Carolina’s program is ninth in the country and moving up because the U.S. Department of the Treasury “keeps calling us” to ask “what we’re doing right.”

Nationally, these programs have been criticized as slow to get money out the door.

Republican state senators weren’t satisfied Tuesday and indicated they'd push forward on allowing landlords to apply, at least to the state-run program, which operates in 88 counties, many of them rural. The state's 12 urban counties have their own programs, funded with the same federal money.

Edwards said the tenant application is seven pages long and requires people to scan and upload a copy of their lease.

“This is not for the meek,” Edwards said. “But the landlord has a very vested interest in assisting that tenant.”

Other senators, many of whom said they’ve heard from landlords owed months of back rent, said too many people think their rent is just waived, when, in reality, it’s due and they can be evicted come early October.

“There is no incentive for the applicant to take the time to communicate with anyone,” Sen. Todd Johnson, R-Union said.

Hogshead said her office is working with county social services offices, school systems, churches and charity groups around the state to get the word out.

“Between now and Oct. 3, all of our messaging is: You still owe this money,” she said.

“They’re not under a misunderstanding,” Sen. Tom McInnis, R-Richmond, replied. “They just don’t want to pay the damn rent.”

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