Asheville group helps form North Carolina tenants union as region rent rapidly rises

In North Carolina, 1.4 million households rent — making up nearly a third of all households in the state, according to recent data from the U.S. Census 2022 American Community Survey.

In the past few years, renters in Buncombe County have faced landlords refusing rent assistance, discrimination impacting fair housing and some of the highest housing costs in the Southeast.

Now, organizers from across North Carolina are offering to help tenants through unionization.

The North Carolina Tenants Union is a new organization formed by individual tenant unions from Asheville, Charlotte, New Bern, New Hanover, Raleigh-Durham and Winston-Salem brought together in common cause to "fight for housing as a human right," according to an April 2 news release announcing their launch.

Amid rapidly rising rent prices in North Carolina, the organization aims to be "led by directly affected tenants to stop displacement, win critical repairs, stop rapid rent increases, democratically control their housing and strengthen tenants' rights," the April 2 news release said.

The union has a strong regional partner in Asheville.

Chair of Asheville Food and Beverage United and housing and wages organizer for Just Economics of Western North Carolina, Jen Hampton now sits on the board of the new North Carolina Tenants Union.

Hampton said the lack of rent control and defense from evictions in North Carolina makes the NC Tenant Union formation important and timely.

"Landlords and property owners, property management — all of those folks. They are very organized at the state level and even at the national level to keep us from gaining rights that we could have," Hampton said, noting that North Carolina doesn't have rent control or just cause eviction laws.

A goal for the NC Tenant Union is to establish paid positions for each of the connected unions across the state, with a paid position that would help organize and educate tenants on their rights, Hampton said.

Hampton has worked with the NC Tenants Union new executive director, Nick MacLeod, to help develop the WNC Tenants Network through Just Economics. Two classes on tenant education are being held by the network in May.

Asheville has a reported 18,594 households that rent, making up nearly 50% of the city's total households, according to the American Community Survey.

Asheville currently faces the highest Fair Market Rent in the state. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development estimates a cost of $1,496 a month for a one-bedroom apartment in the area. The number rivals the price for one-bedroom apartments in Washington D.C. and Atlanta.

Just Economics is also the local nonprofit that determines the Asheville area's living wage. The organization recently increased the projected living wage for 2024 to $22.10 primarily due to rising housing costs.

"Housing is directly tied to your wages. If you are not making enough wages to afford your housing, then you are kind-of screwed," Hampton said.

Hampton has also helped organize the Asheville Food and Beverage United, which only recently became a labor union for service industry workers.

"We've got a demonstrable housing crisis, especially for the people in the service industry," said Hampton, who worked in the industry before working for Just Economics.

"If they keep pushing out service workers with these high costs of living and hardly any assistance or social safety nets — we are going to lose our vibe," Hampton said of Asheville.

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Will Hofmann is the Growth and Development Reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA Today Network. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected]. Please help support this type of journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: NC activists form statewide tenant union as region rent rapidly rises