Rents have been going up in the Charlotte area, sometimes forcing lower-income people out of homes they have lived in for many years. | PxHere.com
Rents have been going up in the Charlotte area, sometimes forcing lower-income people out of homes they have lived in for many years. | PxHere.com
Evictions and rental rates are on the rise in the Charlotte area, putting the squeeze on many families that are struggling to find shelter.
The number of evictions served have more than doubled in the last year, with the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office saying that from August to April, it received 5,081 evictions notices, serving 3,798. That’s up from 2,154, with 1,589 served during the same period a year earlier.
Couple that with higher rent prices, along with few equivalent pay raises, and renters are facing real financial hurdles.
“Honestly, we hope we can find something before we end up homeless because we can’t afford to pay it,” Trina Costa, a Cimeron Apartments resident in Belmont, told WCNC Charlotte after getting a notice that her rent, which was $600, would be going up to $1,275 starting in June.
“I was shocked,” she told WCNC. “I’m scared, worried for my neighbors.”
One neighbor, for example, is 66-year-old Peggy St. Gelais. “Oh my God, I’m stressing so bad. You don’t even want me to tell you what I’ve been doing,” she told WCNC.
Despite the rising cost of rent, demand for housing hasn’t slowed own, so it’s challenging to even find a vacancy.
“I’ve been trying to find a place, but there’s a two- to five-year wait, or the rent is so high you can’t afford it,” St. Gelais told WCNC.
While tenants at Cimeron expected a rent increase when a new management company took over, they didn’t think rates would more than double.
“We could understand $750, $800,” Costa told WCNC. “But these apartments are older and run-down and they need a lot of work.”
By jacking up rates to this extent, the complex is essentially going to force most tenants out.
“We’re not just numbers, not just 20-something units, we're actual human beings,” Costa told WCNC. “This has been our home. By doing this rent increase, they’re taking away all of our homes.”
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