Advocates for low-income residents facing eviction tell them to ignore deadline

The deadline was Thursday for dozens of families to move out of their low-rent apartments, but advocates for residents of the Garner complex told them to stay put for now.

Eller Capital Partners, which bought the Forest Hills Apartments on Seventh Avenue in February, will no longer accept housing-assistance payments. The 136-unit complex has 96 apartments for people who receive federal housing subsidies.

Residents were initially told they had to be out of the 35-year-old buildings by April 30, but the deadline was pushed to June 15 after the Wake County Board of Commissioners got involved.

Eighteen families are still looking for a new place to live, according to a county report issued Tuesday.

Legal Aid of North Carolina, which is representing about 50 Forest Hills residents, told families to ignore Thursday’s move-out deadline. The group is trying to negotiate with Eller Capital Partners “without litigation,” said Executive Director George Hausen.

“If you want the people out, the best way is to let Wake County find a place for them, so why not let this run its course for a while?” Hausen said.

The N.C. Housing Finance Agency also wants an extension on when residents must leave.

“We’re concerned that many tenants have run out of options in the face of (Thursday’s) deadline, and have asked the owner to extend it to allow these remaining residents to find other affordable housing,” said spokeswoman Connie Helmlinger.

Daniel Eller, president and CEO of Eller Capital Partners, said his company “is fully compliant with all of its legal obligations under the residential lease agreements.”

A housing resource center Wake opened at the nearby Southeast Regional Library in Garner has connected with 130 Forest Hills households since April 11. Eighteen households were still actively searching for new housing as of Tuesday.

“I won’t be satisfied until every tenant has a place to go, but I can say I’m proud of the way the county stepped up for the residents,” said Commissioner Jessica Holmes.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development gave Wake’s Housing Authority 28 vouchers in May to give to Forest Hills residents whose subsidies were tied to the complex.

The Raleigh Housing Authority issued vouchers in March to other families. But the vouchers must be used within 60 days – or 90 with an extension – or they expire.

Community activist Octavia Rainey said she worried some residents’ vouchers were about to expire.

“If they lose their vouchers, they won’t have anything to look for housing with,” Rainey said. “Affordable housing is really a struggle to find.”

Hausen, the Legal Aid director, said he hoped to learn more soon from discussions with attorneys for Eller Capital Partners.

“We’re trying to work something out,” Hausen said.

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 4:07 PM with the headline "Advocates for low-income residents facing eviction tell them to ignore deadline."