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.
During the last year, the Riverside High School Affordable Housing Club has promoted this ordinance in Durham. We attended eviction court to watch proceedings and interviewed attorneys. We wrote a report about how the ordinance works in Charlotte, and we’ve built community support for its passage in Durham by meeting with community groups and city councilors. We’re doing this work because of the impact of housing costs and evictions on our classmates and neighborhoods. Housing instability stresses families and leads kids to miss school. It even forces students to change schools midyear.
We’ve received a lot of support. At the council’s September 18 work session, a retired tenants’ attorney, Jack Holtzman, offered public comment in support of the ordinance. He told a story about how he once used the Charlotte ordinance to file a class-action lawsuit against an out-of-state slumlord who rented out properties with dangerous conditions. The tenants settled the lawsuit for $500,000. Holtzman argued that the ordinance would strengthen the ability of private attorneys to be “stronger tenant advocates” in Durham. Nick MacLeod, the executive director of the North Carolina Tenants Union, also spoke in favor of the proposal. He said, “This would be a really valuable, critical addition in Durham to protect tenants living in unbelievably dangerous conditions.” Donna Bautista, a resident at JFK Towers, shared details about some of the unlivable conditions in the public housing complex where she lives.
We’ve also heard some legal concerns from the city attorney’s office. Fortunately, it seems clear that the city has the power to enact this policy. It’s been part of the housing code in Charlotte since 2007, in Pineville since 2008, and in Pittsboro since 2022. They’ve never been challenged by the state. While the ordinance is not enforced directly by the municipalities, it is enforced by the courts after tenants and their lawyers raise it as a defense against eviction for nonpayment. Over the summer, the legislative analyst’s office in the General Assembly looked at the ordinance and said, “It appears that tenants can raise a violation of [the Charlotte ordinance] as a defense to eviction.” The two attorneys who spoke at public comment at the work session agreed, as did Chelsea Cook, a city councilor who is also a tenants’ lawyer.
Durham should adopt this ordinance. It will make landlords more likely to maintain their properties in safe and livable condition because of the risk of losing rent payments if they don’t. For renters who endure substandard housing, it will save them money and give them a tool to enforce their rights. Finally, the ordinance can slow down eviction proceedings, allowing people to keep roofs over their heads longer, preventing homelessness. While this ordinance will not solve Durham’s affordable housing crisis, it will make a significant difference for many of our residents.
Milo Graber is a senior at Riverside High School and the founder of the Riverside High School Affordable Housing Club.
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