On January 27th, 2021, the Durham CAN Affordable Housing Team held an action at the monthly Durham Housing Authority (DHA) Board of Commissioners Meeting and spoke during the public comment period about our proposal with the goal of changing the current eviction policies at the DHA. 

We asked that DHA: (1) change the policy on the “time of filing” to extend the court filing date to at least 90 days after the rent is due; and (2) require direct and documented communication between the property manager and resident prior to filing an eviction notice. Increasing the time before filing will allow for recently proposed eviction interventions to take place and will decrease the long-term harm for some residents as well as lower overall evictions which many elected leaders -- including our Mayor -- have repeatedly referred to publicly as “a crisis.”

Since the January Board of Commissioners meeting, the Durham CAN Affordable Housing Team has engaged with DHA leadership and staff on multiple occasions to discuss long-term eviction procedure and policy. As the AH Action team moves to close this phase of our eviction action and develop new strategies, we ask you to JOIN US on Wednesday, March 24th at 5:30 pm to affirm our two procedure/policy recommendations to prevent eviction filings in the long term and highlighting how CAN’s recommendations serve the common self-interests we share with DHA.